The Guardian view on Trump and Xi: a show of friendship, but no real attempt to address the tensions | Editorial
The Chinese leader’s visit to Washington appears to have done nothing to shift the stalemate in bilateral relations Within days, two high-profile Chinese visitors will arrive in the US – envoys of friendship, as Xi Jinping described them when he met Donald Trump at the White House this week. The giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will be hosted at Atlanta zoo. Beijing dispatched the first panda pair to the US in 1972 following President Richard Nixon’s landmark visit to China. It uses the animals to indicate satisfaction or displeasure with other nations. But it also charges heftily for their lease: reportedly, around $1m a year per pair. Americans’ views of China have warmed from a pandemic nadir, but are unlikely to be shifted much by two animals, however charming. These days they are more of a token gesture than a striking symbol.It is telling that the announcement was one of the
EditorialDonald TrumpXi Jinping