but his commitment and cooperation would be critical for any of the agreements made here to be successful. how do you interpret his absence? >> he is utterly focused on what's going on inside china right now. and the reason, alex, next fall, the next iteration of the communist party congress is going to make a decision about who is going to run china for yet another five-year period. president xi desperately wants to be that person. so he is spending his energy working domestically in china, which has many different kinds of problems, including a significant real estate bubble that's looking like it might pop. environmental damage to the point of the secretary of state, tony blinken. as well as a sense of unrest from various corners, the uighur