THEIR respective self-interests appear to lord over the tentative handshake United States President Mr. Donald Trump and Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping have made possible at what Mr. Trump described as “the biggest summit ever”. No matter Mr. Trump’s another assertion that the two countries had a “fantastic future together”, Mr. Xi Jinping was reportedly stoic and did not miss mentioning the Chinese concern over the American stance on Taiwan in rather clear words. Though Mr. Trump reportedly avoided talking about any mention of Taiwan in the talks with his Chinese counterpart, US Secretary of State Mr. Marco Rubio insisted that Washington’s policy towards the island nation was unchanged. No matter the other issues that came up during the all-important diplomatic encounter of recent times, observers of international realpolitik did realise that the handshake was only tentative and did not carry much promise for deep future.

 

The diplomacy between the US and China was never actually well-oiled. Even when President Richard M Nixon had torn through the bamboo curtain about fifty years ago to establish a toe-hold for the US in the world’s toughest diplomatic terrain, doubts never faded about the potential friendship between two powers. Through subsequent encounters between the leaders of the two nations and their diplomatic communities, those doubts always persisted. Now also, with Mr. Trump making the freshest bid to extend a hand of cooperation, the Chinese appear to take an uncompromising stance on issues as sensitive as Taiwan. The Americans, in such a case, may not have much chance to wriggle out by making soft promises on Taiwan. There is an unfortunate presupposition that the US President is making the trip to China with Beijing enjoying an upper hand in diplomacy.

 

This perception has no real basis, though. For, the Americans are no novices in diplomacy and know how to operate different levers to keep an upper hand. The visit of Mr. Trump -- second by him as President -- stands on the shoulders of the current and unresolved Middle East conflict. The world has realised the American propensity to brew trouble and foster disturbance in global order. The Chinese, too, are fully conscious of this American characteristic and would never be rough or lop-sided during the diplomatic confabulations. Both sides will speak from their respective positions of strength and respect the other side suitably. Despite this, their current handshake is, at best, tentative -- in the sense no proper solution to issue of global supremacy would ever evolve out of such cosmetic summits. The energies of both sides would be consumed only in assessing the other party’s ability to cause a serious disruption -- or even rupture -- of the world order. Of course, the fact that Mr. Trump travels to Beijing, and Mr. Xi Jinping may do the same to travel to Washington later, will have its own diplomatic importance.

 

With such pulls and counter-pulls in operation, Taiwan will be only one of the points of reference and not the main issue. The main issue, so to say, will be the ability of either of Beijing or Washington to commandeer the world order through different levers including energy, technology, military and human resource -- and how one power is able to dominate the scene no matter what the other side does in counter-disruption. This summit did not happen just all of a sudden. It will also not be a one-off encounter. For, in real life, both sides realise the power of each other to dominate the scene -- if even a slit of chance is afforded by the other. The personal styles of Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi Jinping may be different. But both are mature and senior enough to understand the importance of offering a handshake -- no matter how tentative -- so that the world order does not get an unforeseen jolt. The world would spend all its energy to decipher what the summit would mean finally. For, what is at stake is not just the two superpowers, but also the whole world getting caught in the diplomatic tug.