Commenting on President Donald Trump’s visit to China, author and investigative journalist Peter Schweizer paid attention to where the Chinese at Beijing’s airport placed the jetway stairs for Air Force One.
When President Obama visited in 2016, he recalled, “they didn’t pull the stairway up to the front of Air Force One. So, Obama had to climb out of what The Guardian in the UK called the ‘ass of Air Force One.’ He had to go down the back steps,” Schweizer told Fox News’s Jesse Waters. “It was an example of disrespect.”
“They would never do that to Donald Trump in a million years, because they know Trump wouldn’t tolerate it. So Trump came and demonstrated strength.”
Summit meetings are carefully staged, and this one was no exception. Trump was welcomed by a large, smiling group of Chinese children. Trump’s contribution, though, was more significant. He stepped off the plane with the CEOs of several large American companies who do enormous amounts of business in China and with that visual sent a message that American industry is behind Trump’s tough trade stance with the Chinese government.
Schweizer said, “It conveys to China that ‘Look. They’re with me, I’m with them, and this is my policy.’”
“It also conveys to these CEOs that they are American companies, not multinational corporations,” he added. “You’re not going to cut these kind of co-production deals that benefit our enemies anymore.”
Trump’s subtle, two-sided message “makes him the convening authority in commercial relationships with China, which is exactly what you want when you’re dealing with an adversary like Beijing,” Schweizer said.
Schweizer focuses on the showier aspects of the summit because he does not believe Chinese president Xi Jinping will stick to any negotiated deals he may have with Trump made during the summit, “He doesn’t mean it. And I think Donald Trump knows that. Trump understands that words are a way to communicate information, but they can also be strategic weapons,” Schweizer said.
“So, China is making promises it’s not going to keep. But Trump understands that. That’s the important thing.”
