We think what happened in syria is a disgrace to humanity. And hes there, and i guess hes running things, so something should happen. Thanks, folks. Ill see you in a little while. As america considers its Military Options well ask if a United Nations deal is still possible. Here, theresa may meets donald tusk. Its his job to get the best deal for the eu out of brexit. The Irish Foreign minister tells me he sees no sign that our former partners are out for revenge. Would Free School Meals mean kids do better in the classroom . We ask restauranteur Henry Dimbleby and former teacher laura mcinerny. And. Dont try this at home. We meet the russian Thrill Seekers taking sometimes fatal risks for social media fame. Good evening. Donald trump watched his words tonight like a man who finally understood just how much trouble they could cause. It was on the flight to mar el lago, ahead of a meeting with his chinese counterpart, that he skimmed the Curtain Divde to Talk To The Press Corp and tell them, with as much diplomacy as he has perhaps ever mustered, that something must happen with syrias president assad. We dont know what. We will come to china diplomacy, and why it matters, in a moment, but first, to the more pressing question in hand as the United Nations in new york works to find a resolution to condemn the chemical gas attack this week at the hands of assad, the pentagon has suggested its looking for the appropriate response, including detailed discussions on Military Options. Our correspondent, nick bryant, is at the United Nations for us. Just interpret what you were hearing from the pentagon, from america, tonight, and do you think it includes options for Military Action . They talk about a serious response, so increasingly it looks certain that that will be military. James mattis, the defence secretary, was already going to be in florida, but we now understand he will be presenting President Trump, the commander in chief, with various Military Options, one of which includes rounding syrian aircraft. There is a lot of chatter at the possibility of notjust a Military Strike but an imminent one, possibly as soon as the night, which would be aimed at the airbase in syria from which america believes the planes took off carrying that chemical arsenal in idlib province. An awful lot of chatter tonight in the pentagon that the response will be military, and that that response is imminent. What is the rush in your understanding . Do you think he expects the Un Resolution to fail, or is he simply trying to beat the un to it . How do you read it . I have just received a text from someone in those negotiations, and their expectation is that russia will veto the resolution under discussion. The french and british drafted the initial resolution, and the americans came in with stronger language. They wanted access for International Investigators to the airbases that they believe these attacks might have been carried out from, and they also wanted the Syrian Military to hand over the flight logs on the day of the attack, on tuesday. I expect the americans will bring that to a vote in the next hour or two mac, and the russians will raise their hand for the eighth time to veto a resolution directed against the assad regime. The new un ambassador from america said that if there was obstruction and russian intransigence at the un, then the americans would take action. You can see a possible choreography here a vote in the security council, the russians veto the resolution which the western nations have been calling for, and then the possibility of some kind of Military Action later on. Nick, its fascinating and complicated. James carafano is the Homeland Security and Foreign Policy expert from the heritage foundation. He might be able to cast a little light on what we are hearing in the last few moments. Have you understood that any kind of Military Strike by the United States is imminent . What do you make of that . I have heard the same chatter everybody else has. It fits and the notion of a narrowly targeted punitive strike, kind of saying, this is beyond the pale, that certainly seems possible. This is not something that would be part of a larger strategy dealing with regime change anything else. It would simply be warning shot against this kind of behaviour. It reminds me most of some of reagans punitive strikes that he did early in his ten year send to people messages. I think that seems to be the closest analogy of what we are expecting. President trump would be putting himself not just against Basharat Hussain but against president putin. That would be the first time those two had been set against each other so far. People miss the point. We have seen no evidence of that apart from some tweets. President trump has difficulty in getting over the idea. You dont want to do something that will escalate things, because no one wants to start World War Three of others. It is a diversion. It would have to be a limited strike. The argument for sooner rather than later is, do it and get it over with. If it is a limited strike, and we have heard donald trump trying to explain to the press corps on that flight tonight that he thinks something should happen to assad, would it be limited but effective in terms of stopping assad from going on, or not that far . It would be proportional. If you were attacking the Military Installations that were carrying out the chemical strikes, you could argue thats a proportional response. I dont think he is trying to take down the regime. People read way too much into that. James carafano, thank you, and stay with us. Now, china. Watch the handshake, the body language and the words tonight this is as good as it gets for diplomacy nerds. Its china meets america, xi jinping meets trump, and the worlds waiting to see who emerges on top. Perhaps theyre not as different as they seem. Nationalists, businessmen who both recognize the art of the deal. Whether they both end up with one is the stuff of the next fascinating 2a hours. Trump fans still remember what he said about china on the campaign trail. The question is, does china and will it bear a grudge . Look Beyond The Sun kissed setting and youll find a minefield. This is one of those encounters that matters. The big beasts get to stamp their ground in the same room, to the gaze of the world press. And this is where we really start to see who has The Upper Hand xijin ping or the man who airs his diplomatic grievances on a chat show. The president of chinas coming, a man named xijin ping. Do you know xijin ping . I never heard of him. I dont know who he is. If you were president , would you throw him a big dinner . Id get him a mcdonalds hamburger and say, weve got to get down to work. On the campaign trail, trump never shied away from colourful language. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country. And thats what theyre doing. Jobs disappear, and the way the economys going right now, its tough to find a job. For rape, you might wish to read trade. Its the thing that keeps his trade adviser, peter navarro, up at night, a man who once made a whole documentary on the subject he called death by china. President trump has consistently criticised the large Trade Deficit between their two countries, currently around 350 billion, an imbalance caused by american imports of cheap chinese products. I dont think its necessarily bad that a president came in having said tough things about china. Its almost the norm in american president ial politics, and george w bush, who i worked for, said in the first months of his presidency, he would rise up and defend taiwan if it is attacked, which goes beyond the us position. And over the next years, he had a very productive relationship with his chinese counterparts. But there is also that small matter of nuclear warfare. Last week, trump told the Financial Times that if china were unwilling to solve north korea, hed go it alone. The us is looking to china to implement sanctions against north korea as punishment for its recent bout of missile testing. The meeting of these superpowers, visualised so powerfully by the 1972 after a 25 year freeze, has become a thing of global significance. They expected that he, and the other deputy premier, should wear the texan hat. Dong xiaoping, magnificently incongruous at a texas rodeo, paved the way for the next china trip reagan in 1984, and by the time obama met his counterpart, the pivot to asia seemed complete. The United States is a pacific nation, and we are very interested and very focused on continuing to strengthen our relationships. Gina, gina, huge gina. Some believe for all the easily satirised bellicose banter, famously sent up, youll remember, on saturday night live, his teams actually woefully underprepared. There is no major china policy in place, few old china hands in his administration. He hasnt got a china strategy in place yet. Thats why i think the Chinese Government decided that its worth their while to take the risk on President Trump and try to see whether they can persuade President Trump to approach relations with china more in a direction that the Chinese Government would like. Trump needs to emerge from this with the promises of wins on trade and american jobs. He may well get that, but the chinese may be looking for something thats far more significant longer term confirmation of the reach of their power within the asian neighbourhood. If trump walks into simple linguistic traps many fear the sophisticated xi will leave, the end result may look far more compromising, and it will matter to us all. Our china editor carrie graciejoins me now. How important is this encounter for xi, and what does success look like for the chinese right now . It is incredibly important. He has a communist Party Congress at the end of this year and if he can bring home something he can call a victory from the biggest Foreign Policy stage, then that enormously strengthens him at home. They see this as a moment of danger, yes, a moment of risk, to head into florida without an agenda, with this unpredictable counterpart, but on the other hand, it is a moment of opportunity. The us has no china strategy right now. As you were saying, it has no team for china. President obama had a strategy there was the transpacific partnership, the betrayed trade dealfor asia, underpinned by security alliances. Without the transpacific partnership, the whole of asia is looking on and saying, what is the us Policy In Asia . This is a time for china to step in while policy is unformed, i think for them, they see a lot they can do, and if they can just the live arena on trade to avert trade war if they can deliver enough to avoid serious secondary sanctions against chinese firms on north korea, then they can get the mood music right and government call it a triumph. Thank you very much indeed. Joining me now from washington is james ca rafano, a Homeland Security and Foreign Policy expert from the heritage foundation. In the studio are author and chinese activist diane wei liang, and martin jacques, an academic and author of when china rules the world. Very nice to have you all here. What do you believe is at stake, martin . I think an enormous amount is at stake, because from the chinese point of view, this is the First Time Since don xiaoping that they have faced a situation of this kind, president in america who is on a different course to all the previous president s. Why do you say that . Actually, a lot of them have gone in with the Sabre Rattling approach, havent they . They havent, like trump, rejected the whole idea of the Alliance System of the United States since 1945 and said, walk away from global leadership, what we want is america first. That is different from any other position. What we dont know is how far trump will go along this course. We know he has had a lot of rhetoric about it, but we dont know how much he is actually going to do. James, i want to bring you in on that one point. Do you think we will hear the same rhetoric again from trump . Does it still work in close proximity, one on one . No, i think that president xi is well matched for President Trump, he can be serious and engaging and i think they could have a fairly productive discussion if they keep it at business level, i think you are right on trade, they could come out of the room and both feel like they can offer something. But, north korea, because of the news, thats a top thing in the us, they will come in with a tough series of demands and demand china do things and give them 30 days to do something, it will include sanctioning Chinese Companies which is absolutely on the table for the us. The administration is talking seriously about that threat. For President Trump, what do you think he will be hoping for . Well, president xi, i have to say, he has come in in a very strong position actually. I have to disagree with carrie on this one, he is into the middle of his tenure. He is even a strong position, although he has the Peoples Congress coming up. Its a rubber stamping, he has enormous support within china, the chinese governorate has been used to american president s coming in, and having a dip in the relationship. And, with every us president , the china us relationship had always deteriorated within the first six months. It did not go well with barack obama, he was a pacifist and facing the pacific ring, it didnt really work, they see him as a deal maker and they believe that he is one. Now they suspect that he might be a one trick pony, talk tough and try and get in to get a good negotiating position. For china, on trade, there is definitely room to manoeuvre, and north korea also has iooiti to manoeuvre. They could offer corporation. E may i strike a slightly optimistic note . If xi and trump can get through this summit on reasonable terms, on one or two things they may reach some sort of agreement, a concession here, gains there, so on. It is not inconceivable down the road they could not actually strike a much bigger bargain. And invest serious money in american infrastructure. Either through the aib or through direct form. China Rebuilding America And MakingAmerica Great again . China could have a role in this. James, what are your thoughts . I do agree that they could come out of it looking strong, it is very unreal. There are major strategy issues on the table that, ground is not going to be easy. The south china sea, taiwan, that is a bit like pollyanna. But if we learn to get along, then yes. It is a start. Learn to get along. Until Donald Trumps supporters realise all the jobs that he said jobs, he will be re elected. That is his challenge. I do not see donald trump getting into a trade agreement, and this is one thing that he does not believe in, the trade agreement. But i can see the bilateral relationship between china 44 44 44 4444 444 to those with spiky views on prickly subjects. Tonight, its the turn of George Mpanga better known by his stage name, george the poet. Heres his take on keeping it political. Entertainers cant sit on the fence. Art needs to become political. Theresa may has met donald tusk for the First Time Since the triggering of article 50 and since the Negotiating Terms theresa may has met donald tusk for the First Time Since the triggering of article 50 and since the Negotiating Terms have become clearer. Many are on tenterhooks about the details ireland now becomes one of the 27 nations that we will be looking to trade with and will also crucially have a veto over any eventual trade deal. Earlier, i spoke to charlie flanagan, Irish Foreign minister. I began by asking him if ireland was worried that the rest of the eu would not make brexit easy for britain. I dont see any intent, i dont see any disposition on the part of my eu colleagues to exact retribution, to punish britain. I believe it is important that the process now proceeds in an orderly manner. At the earliest opportunity. Yes, there are unique circumstances in ireland, that relationship between ireland and britain is the warmest ever, a positive and constructive relationship that one could only expect between friendly neighbours. This has been the case under the umbrella of the european union. So let me just ask you. And it is important that that warm and friendly relationship continues between britain and ireland. Are you putting pressure on the eu now . Do you feel ireland is being listened to . Ireland will remain firmly a member of the eu, having regard to the fact that ou