LAUGHINGSTOCK:

[T]rump's posturing as a candidate on China was always a case of theatre over substance, and his advisers occasionally admitted as much. Sure enough, once he was in office, Trump began acting like a pliable counterpart. He has not put tariffs on imports or branded China as a currency manipulator, as he threatened. When Trump briefly showered attention on Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province, Xi stonewalled him--and Trump's resolve liquefied, just as foreign-policy hands in China had predicted it would. When Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State, visited Beijing last month, Tillerson even recited Beijing's chosen phrases about "mutual respect" and "win-win solutions." Why does that matter? It's roughly the geostrategic equivalent of trying to haggle over the price of a car in a foreign language that you haven't mastered.

Beijing did not forget the lesson. In anticipation of the summit, Evan Medeiros, an Asia expert at the Eurasia Group, observed that "many in China believe Trump is a 'paper tiger' whose focus on short-term gains can be manipulated." Having concluded that Trump cannot back up his rhetoric, Xi has little reason to accede to Trump's demands, which include getting China to put more pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear program. The visitors from Beijing also know that, at some point, Trump will attempt a splashy display of confrontation. But Beijing is not overly concerned. Let Trump tweet; Xi is playing a longer game.

Having sent Tillerson home from Beijing spouting Communist Party mantras, Xi's envoys have turned their attention to the representative they really care about: Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. From a Chinese perspective, Kushner's role in the White House is a clannish arrangement that they know well. Many of Trump's current courtiers may be gone in a year of two, but the members of his family will remain. For a while, China appeared to be preparing to endear itself to Kushner in a way that only it can: Anbang, a financial conglomerate with close ties to the Party leadership, was nearing a deal that would have unlocked billions of dollars to help Kushner save a troubled investment in a skyscraper on Fifth Avenue. Last week, the Kushner family announced that talks had broken off, for reasons that were not clear.

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