Ian O. Lesser, distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, believes the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was largely about “symbolism” and finding ways to “manage rivalry” between the two leaders.
The visit, the first by a Chinese leader to the US in more than a decade, leaves “a lot of unresolved issues” in areas including trade and technology, according to Lesser. However, he sees the extension of the “sort of trade truce” between the two countries as “something of a success”, while acknowledging that there is still “a lot of work to be done”.