Amy Hawkins

And I think that has injected a dose of slight caution into the way that the Chinese government is approaching these talks, while at the same time, probably feeling quite comforted by the fact that they're seen as the more stable, reliable global power at the moment.

It's hard to kind of sum up what the average person's opinion is about Trump.

But, you know, whereas before he was definitely seen as kind of an entertainer, a buffoon, definitely people take him a lot more seriously now.

And, you know, people see the US as being the source of global disorder.

US is described as a troublemaker.

The world problems are created by the US.

I think now the average person in China sees Trump more as a kind of a foe who needs to be dealt with rather than a kind of friendly buffoon.

Yeah, I mean, they haven't been in person that many times before.

But you saw in South Korea last year that she seemed to laugh at a joke that Trump made.

But no one knows what that joke was.

There are people in China who think that basically Trump envies Xi, right?

And he would love to have the system that Xi Jinping has, which is like total authoritarian control.

And so in that sense, I think people are expecting there to be a certain kind of

Yeah, rapport between the two, kind of almost in the same way that you see Trump being like a bit more friendly towards Vladimir Putin.

I think Trump has a certain respect for fellow strongmen.

Yeah, he likes a strongman, doesn't he?

Yeah.

So I think from the Chinese side, you know, they'll want to show that they're very kind of calm and respectful and open and friendly, but very much in control.

And I mean, Xi doesn't have that kind of relaxed candor that Trump has.

Yes, I mean, the Trump administration has been very clear about wanting China to do more to put pressure on Iran to come to a ceasefire.