CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/JAPAN/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “At each stop on his 12-day, five-country Asia tour, President Donald Trump emphasized one aspect of his visit above all else: his personal rapport with the heads of state who hosted him.
He golfed with Shinzo Abe, complimenting the Japanese prime minister’s accidental backward tumble into a bunker as graceful. He convinced a reluctant South Korea President Moon Jae-in to meet him at the North Korea border, a visit that thick fog ultimately forced them to cancel. And he engaged in a favorite pastime—making jibes at the expense of the American press corps—along with the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
At the end of his stop in Beijing, Mr. Trump beamed while sitting next to Chinese President Xi Jinping as his host played a highlight reel of their time together. They watched an opera in the Forbidden City, a demonstration of the Chinese military’s precision near Tiananmen Square, and an acrobatic performance at a state dinner inside the Great Hall of the People.
The result is Mr. Trump returns to Washington from his first Asia trip with a good deal of bonhomie with his fellow leaders but few tangible outcomes.”
-Michael C. Bender, “Trump Wraps Up Asia Trip Focused on Personal Ties,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 14, 2017 03:08pm