The following is an edited transcript of “ChinaFile Presents: What Happened When Trump Met Xi?” a discussion of Donald Trump’s five-country trip to Asia, with Daniel Russel, Bonnie Glaser, and Orville Schell, moderated by Susan Jakes. The panel took place at Asia Society in New York on November 15, 2017, after Trump’s return to the U.S. —The Editors
Susan Jakes: We called this event—at some point—“What Happened When Trump Met Xi,” but we’re actually going to talk about Trump’s entire 12-day trip to Asia. And we’ll put the China piece, as Chinese officials like to say, “at the core.” This afternoon, President Trump gave his own assessment of the trip, in pretty lengthy and remarkably cogent scripted remarks, and we’ll have a chance to talk about your thoughts on his framing of what took place, how you view what occurred on the trip, and what it augurs for U.S. policy, the U.S.-China relationship, and the dynamics of the Asian Pacific region. To start, I want to try to establish a bit of a baseline so that we can think about what made this trip different from previous presidential trips to Asia and where those differences come from. Danny Russel spent decades working in Asia for the State Department, and during the Obama Administration served not only as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, but also as the Senior Director for East Asia on the National Security Council at the White House, and hence was deeply involved in the strategy, planning, and orchestration of past presidential visits to Asia. So Danny, set the scene a little bit. When past presidents have traveled to Asia, what has the process looked like? How much happens ahead of the trip versus on it or after it? What are the negotiations like? How do you think of the mix of ceremony and substance, strategic communications, and protocol? And maybe most importantly, what is the utility of a trip like this? It’s an exhausting expedition, it wears everybody involved out. But what is a trip like this good for when it’s working at its best?