If brevity is the soul of wit, the White House’s statement on President Trump’s call with President Xi Jinping was downright Shakespearean
The president’s team released details Wednesday of the recent phone call between the two world leaders. The only problem is: The White House’s statement was extremely short on details, to put it politely.
“President Donald J. Trump spoke last night with President Xi Jinping of China to follow up after President Xi’s visit to Mar-a-Lago. It was a very productive call,” the nearly 30-word note read.
The Chinese government, on the other hand, had a lot to say about Xi’s conversation with Trump. In a much, much more detailed statement released Wednesday, the Chinese government said the following (translation courtesy CNN’s Steven Jiang):
On the morning of April 12, President Xi Jinping talked to US President Donald Trump on the phone.
Xi emphasized: “I’m very happy to talk to Mr. President on the phone. Our recent meetings at Mar-a-Lago produced important results, which have been recognized by the Chinese people as well as the international community. I thank the president for your warm hospitality and detailed arrangements.”
Xi said: “We held in-depth exchanges on China-US relations in a new era as well as major international and regional issues, and reached important consensus. Mr. President and I have deepened our mutual understanding and established a good working relationship. Next, both sides should utilize the four high-level dialogue mechanisms, namely diplomatic and security, comprehensive economic, law enforcement and cyber security, as well as social and people-to-people dialogues. We should use them to promote the implementation of the ‘100-Day Plan’ as well as expanding exchanges and coordination between the militaries and on law enforcement, cyber issues and people-to-people exchanges. We should strengthen our communication and coordination on major international and regional issues. We should strive to produce results sooner to inject new energy in the development of bilateral ties, and work together to promote global peace and development. Teams from both sides should work closely to ensure a successful and fruitful visit by Mr. President to China later this year.”
Okay, wow. That’s a lot of detail. The Chinese statement goes on:
Trump said that he was very happy to host Xi at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and to have held a very successful US-China presidential summit there. He said it is very important for both presidents to keep close contact and agreed that both sides should work together to expand pragmatic cooperation in a wide range of areas. He said he looked forward to paying a state visit to China.
The two leaders exchanged views on issues of mutual concern including the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Xi emphasized: “China adheres to the goal of denuclearization of the peninsula and insists on preserving peace and stability on the peninsula. China advocates to resolve the issue through peaceful means, and is willing to maintain communication and coordination with the US on the Korean Peninsula issue.”
On the Syria issue, Xi said: “Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable.” He said: “We should adhere to the direction of resolving the issue through political means. Maintaining unity within the UN Security Council is very important to resolve the Syria issue and I hope the UNSC will speak with one voice.”
The two leaders agreed to keep close contact through various means.
That’s a lot of information, and we’re grateful to have been made privy to the presidents’ conversation. However, as an American, it’d be nice to hear about this stuff first from the White House and not the People’s Republic of China.
