China is the great winner of the Kim-Trump summit

In Chinese President Xi Jinping's worst dreams, he could not have predicted a better outcome of President Trump's summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un é in Beijing's interests at least.

After a day of meetings, Trump agreed to stop US military exercises with South Korea, doing exactly what the Chinese government proposed before the summit. Trump publicly stated that he wants to remove all US troops from South Korea, which would be a major strategic fate for China. Trump admitted China is hitting sanctions on North Korea, but indicated there is nothing it can do about it. And Trump legitimised the North Korean regime, beginning a long process that will keep Beijing as a key player with large levers on both sides.

“Trump likes to characterise things as winners and losers, and Xi Jinping appears to be the biggest winner of all after the historic Trump-Kim-Kim” summit, said Theresa Fallon, director of the Centre for Russian, Asian and European Studies.

Just a few months ago, the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship was on the rocks. But Xi and Kim have been fixing things, coordinating their strategy, and now, thanks to Trump, they have achieved the desired outcome of the summit. Meanwhile, Trump concessions risk alienating allies, undermining the US strategic position in East Asia and adopting China's preferred framework for diplomacy. In fact, the “Agreement” Trump and Kim agreed on in Singapore is essentially the “grind-for-free-freeway agreement” that was originally set forth by Beijing.

“The belt of trust in US alliances is a key victory for Xi Jinping,” said Fallon. “Pekin wanted” freezing for freezing “and halting joint exercise, which was exactly what Trump apparently delivered without any obstacle. That's all the art of dealing”.

Trump did not just pause US military exercises with South Korea. He used the rhetoric of China and North Korea to criticize exercises that had previously protected the United States as necessary for military readiness and prevention.

“We will stop the war games”, Trump said at his Tuesday news conference. We're gonna save a lot of money. Plus, it's very provocative”, he added.

At the same press conference, Trump publicly acknowledged that he still wants to remove all US troops from South Korea. Trump talked about it in private for years. But on Tuesday, he said he was aiming to include the reductions of American troops in the upcoming talks with DPA.

I want our men out of there. I want to bring our soldiers home. Now we have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea”, Trump said. “... this is not part of [North Korean Inquisition] right now. At one point, I hope it will be”.

Trump also handed over to Beijing a victory in its attempt to undermine the <x0 Group maximum expectations” led by the United States, South Korea and Japan. Not only did Trump say it would stop imposing new sanctions on North Korea, but he also acknowledged that China does not implement sanctions rigorously and then tore up super for it.

“President Xi of China... has really closed that border, perhaps slightly less over the past two months, but it's okay,” said Trump. I think over the past two months, the border is more open than when we started. But that's what it is, he said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday raised the hatchet for easing sanctions for North Korea to build goodwill from the Trump-Kim meeting. Beijing is happy to agree with Trump that the summit was a success only because it happened.

The fact that leaders from the two countries can sit together and have an equal conversation already makes important sense. This is creating a new story, and Beijing welcomes and supports this score”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement.

Former CIA director Michael Hayden told me that having a good meeting with Kim that opens a process for future talks is a positive thing. But we must not think that North Korea has agreed to anything new, and we must understand that we have paid a high price.

We paid him off by giving up his appearance and reality through the president's words a sense of equivalence with one of the world's worst dictators”, he said. “And all we got from it was an agreement to assess to agree somewhere in the future”.

As an additional bonus for China, Trump has thrown confusion into America's alliances with South Korea and Japan. The spokesman for Seoul's Blue House said on Tuesday: “at this moment, understanding and purpose of President Trump's remarks requires a clearer”. The Japanese government, which has asked Trump not to make concessions to Kim without a complete, verifiable and irreversible destruction of its nuclear and missile programmes, must have been humiliated.

Trump said he is relying on instincts and believes Kim is seriously concerned about dislearisation, wants the help of economic development Trump is offering and is sincere about his intention to pursue this process.

I think he'll do these things. I can be wrong. I mean, I can stand in front of you in six months and say, hey, I made a mistake”, Trump said. I don't know if I'm ever going to accept this, but I'm going to find some kind of excuse”.

Blind belief in the sincerity of a North Korean dictator is not a valid basis for eliminating the US strategic stance in Asia, questioning alliance relations and lifting pressure on North Korea. If Beijing's strategic goal is to weaken America's position in its region, Trump just did much of their work for them. / The Washington Post ) Read.al