The U.S. president Trump met with the CCP leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. Trump split into a slightly meaningful grin as he looked at the “elementary-schooler” leader Xi Jinping, who has to carry a little notebook wherever he goes. (Video screenshot)
[People News] Trump and Xi often use “old friend” to describe their relationship, and frequently praise Xi in front of the media as an “outstanding” and “great” leader. Chinese people are often puzzled by this—does Trump really admire this “baozi” (“steamed bun”) as Xi is called by the Chinese public?
On October 30, Trump and Xi met in Busan, South Korea. In fact, before leaders meet, subordinates already negotiate various items, and the leaders’ meeting is merely to sign on behalf of their countries. Before entering the conference room, Trump and Xi shook hands and exchanged pleasantries in front of the media. As soon as Trump opened his mouth, he flattered Xi, saying: “I am very grateful to be with my old friend, the President of China, and I feel very honored. When you think about it, we’ve known each other for so long; he is a very outstanding, highly respected leader. We will be having some discussions. I think we have already reached a lot of consensus, and now we will reach even more consensus. President Xi is a great leader of a great nation, and I believe we will establish a long-term good relationship; it’s a great honor.”
Xi Jinping, however, pressed his lips into an awkward smile and nodded, moving slowly, his body stiff, not daring to respond easily. He utterly lacked the “one and only” bearing that a great-power leader ought to have.
This meeting was a long-awaited diplomatic event bringing the U.S. and Chinese leaders together in the same frame, with attention focused on how the two sides would properly handle their trade disputes. Yet unexpectedly, some “spineless” moves by Xi during the meeting instead stole the spotlight and sparked heated discussion.
According to multiple live broadcast clips and online screenshots, Xi Jinping read word-for-word from a prepared text with his head down throughout the talks, consciously avoiding eye contact with U.S. President Trump. Meanwhile, Trump at times stared at Xi’s little notebook and at times suppressed a smile while looking straight at Xi’s head-down, script-reading expression—also quite striking. Thus, people began to focus on what exactly was written in the little notebook in Xi’s hand.
According to Newtalk, multiple Russian media outlets trained their focus on the “cheat-sheet memo” in Xi’s hand. From a zoomed-in distant shot, the characters in that notebook were extraordinarily large, and there even appeared to be pinyin annotations.
An account on the X platform, “Israel War,” said what was on it were the three letters “fen tai ni (fentanyl).” On social media people mocked: “This isn’t a diplomatic meeting, this is a language exam site.”
Because Xi Jinping often misreads Chinese characters in speeches—for example reading “通商宽农” (liberalize commerce and favor agriculture) as “通商宽衣” (liberalize commerce and loosen clothing)—he is frequently mocked as an “elementary-schooler PhD,” the “chief accelerator.”
From the video, it can also be seen that Trump seemed quite interested in this “super-large-print script,” and while Xi was reading, Trump would glance from time to time at Xi’s notes, even showing a faintly amused expression. Some commentary described it as Trump “looking over an exam paper while the examinee buries his head and recites.”
Trump widened his eyes, holding back a laugh as he watched Xi Jinping, head down reading from the script. (Video screenshot)
And what about the outcome of the talks? On the flight of Air Force One back to Washington, Trump revealed that the two sides reached consensus on many issues, including a one-year agreement on rare earths, China’s resumption of soybean purchases, jointly stopping the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States, and that the overall U.S. tariff rate on China would drop from 57% to 47%. Trump said he was very satisfied with this meeting, giving it a score of 12 out of a possible 10.
As for Taiwan, which the CCP often brings out on the international diplomatic stage to counterbalance opponents, Trump declared categorically: “Never mentioned Taiwan.”
With the CCP choosing a so-called leader of elementary-school level as Trump’s negotiating counterpart, how could Trump not be pleased? Of course Trump would be reluctant to see Xi step down, so he often expresses his fondness for Xi openly in public.
Online, keywords such as “Xi Jinping reading his script without lifting his head” and “Trump sneaking looks at the notes” quickly trended. Some joked: “A diplomatic meeting turned into a language recitation contest.” Others snarked: “Chinese characters are profound—so profound even Trump wants to learn a few strokes.”
Although the CCP authorities have not yet issued any response, the footage of “head-down script reading + giant-print manuscript” calls to mind the remarks blasted out two days earlier by Japanese Senator Ishihara (Ishihira) about Xi Jinping: “elementary-schooler,” “dumb***,” “stupid pig,” “what is he even,” along with netizens’ conclusion: “Right on target—hit the bull’s-eye!”
This Trump–Xi meeting took place amid the fierce game of the U.S.–China trade war and thus drew worldwide attention. Unexpectedly, however, the meeting was unusually brief and concluded with the Chinese side uncharacteristically accepting the U.S. position wholesale on multiple core issues, clearly indicating that a result has emerged in the CCP’s internal power struggle—namely that Xi Jinping’s wolf-warrior diplomacy has been entirely repudiated by the faction currently in power.
In addition, multiple experts observed that Xi’s performance at the meeting was markedly at odds with his usual hardline image, having turned into a faithful script-reading machine. They speculated whether this change might be connected to his loss of power or to illness.
Commentator Fang Wei described Xi as having a “wooden expression,” “absent-minded,” almost never making eye contact with Trump and lacking the expected willingness to interact.
In his program Skyline (Tianliang Shifen), Zhang Tianliang analyzed that Xi read from the script almost the entire time; this overly script-dependent posture was interpreted as possibly related to memory decline or scattered focus.
On the program Fang Fei Time, Tao Jie described Xi’s body language as “constrained, nervous, even somewhat rigid,” believing this showed his inner pressure or lack of experience responding to Trump’s unpredictability, reflecting a clear weakness in presence.
The results of the meeting show that the Chinese side almost entirely accepted the U.S. demands on multiple core issues. Experts believe this kind of “backing down” concession stems from deeper strategic calculations and economic pressure.
Xi’s confidants in the military have basically all been taken down; rumors long ago said he has already lost real power, but the CCP fears causing unnecessary turbulence, so it allows Xi to continue to appear as party leader, state president, and CMC chairman to front for the CCP. Before this Trump–Xi meeting, when the two met the media, in their interaction Xi, apart from maintaining a stiff smile, did not dare speak, did not dare make any large movements, cautious at every step—far removed from the strongman leader who used to point the way everywhere and shout loudly about the “East rising and the West declining.”
Is Xi Jinping still the same Xi Jinping as before?
(First published by People News) △
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