Jealous? Trump tries to downplay Xi-Putin private tea meeting, insists his Beijing welcome was ‘more brilliant’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Jealous? Trump tries to downplay Xi-Putin private tea meeting, insists his Beijing welcome was ‘more brilliant’")
(L) China's President Xi Jinping with US President Donald Trump (L) Xi Jinping with Russian President Vladimir Putin Photograph: (Combination created using images from AFP)
Days after Donald Trump boasted about his grand Beijing welcome, Vladimir Putin arrived in China and got something arguably more telling: private tea diplomacy with Xi Jinping. Trump insists he is not jealous and even claimed his own ceremony was “more brilliant."
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (May 20) tried to save face as Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his China visit, got what the POTUS didn't: tea time with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The US President, during his recent trip to Beijing, was met with special military honour, marching bands and more. He even touted the meeting with Xi as something his predecessor could never get: "I don't think Biden would even get a meeting with President Xi". Xi "told me he was going to; I think it's good," Trump told reporters Wednesday, as he was forced to wave off any jealousy amid reports of Xi-Putin's private tea meeting. "I get along with both of them, but I think it’s good."
Trump claims his reception was superior to Putin's
The US President also claimed that his reception in Beijing was far superior to that of the Russian president. "I don’t know if the ceremony was quite as brilliant as mine," he told reporters, adding, "I watched; we topped them".
Notably, both Trump and Putin received similar welcomes that consisted of military honour guard marching bands, cheering children, and more.
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Xi, Putin hit out at Trump
According to reports, Xi and Putin, during their recent meet issued quite a few veiled references to Trump, and even condemned the "assassination" and "abduction" of world leaders, an apparent reference to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Venezuela's former president Nicolas Maduro.
Xi also referred to China and Russia as forces of "calm amid chaos" on the world stage. This is being seen as a veiled jab at the turbulence Trump's presidency has caused so far.
In their joint statement, the two nations warned of the dangers of "fragmentation" of the international community and a return to the "law of the jungle."
"Attempts by a number of states to unilaterally manage global affairs, impose their interests on the entire world, and limit the sovereign development of other countries, in the spirit of the colonial era, have failed," read the statement.
