“Xi will have to reassess what the Trump presidency means for Chinese interests in East Asia, particularly North Korea and the South China Sea.”
The American strikes on Syria would quite likely make Mr. Xi be more amenable about the White House’s demand
that China squeeze North Korea’s economy, analysts said.
Despite Mr. Trump’s action against Syria in the middle of Mr. Xi’s visit, there was not an exact parallel between Syria
and North Korea, said Jin Qiangyi, director of the Center for North and South Korea Studies at Yanbian University in Jilin Province, which borders North Korea.
Beijing has long been fairly confident that the United States would not risk an attack on North Korea, a much more dangerous target than Syria because of its nuclear arsenal
and its capacity to hit Japan and South Korea, two American allies, Chinese analysts said.
The American attack on Syria on Thursday unraveled China’s well laid plans for a summit meeting
that would present President Xi Jinping as a global leader on par with President Trump, at once stealing the spotlight from Mr. Xi and putting him in a difficult position: choosing between condoning the kind of unilateral military action that China has long opposed, or rebuking his host.