In a diplomatic relationship at the razor’s edge, the inconvenience could have led to a catastrophe.
In the age of text messages and email it is perhaps the greetings card that took the longest time to reach in the history of modern diplomacy.
Eleven days after the start of the Chinese New Year the US president Donald Trump has finally sent his greetings to Xi Jinping for the beginning of the Year of the Rooster.
The delay must have seemed excessive even to the White House advisers who have tried to mitigate the damage by saying that wishes actually were for the Lantern Festival which will be celebrated on 11 February.
It is the effect that matters and the Chinese Foreign Ministry generously welcomed the greetings card saying that “China appreciates the Trump’s letter to the President and to the Chinese People, and now expects the development of these ties.”
Mr. Xi is the only Great who had not yet taken contact with the new White House, and this was starting a catastrophic diplomatic issue: the office of US President recalls that the Trump’s greetings card comes in response to the wishes arrived from China for his settlement. It’s an important statement: it means that Donald Trump has got the message, albeit belatedly.
The last discrepancy had arrived a few days ago during the mission of the new Pentagon chief for the Far East: Jim ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis had reaffirmed his intention to build in South Korea the “Thaad” missile shield, that according to Beijing would be a Trojan Horse to break into Chinese territory. What’s more, at this very hour an appeal of a group of high-ranking Americans and British experts came to the White House urging Trump to also interfere in the “Hong Kong” issue.
On Chinese newspapers tidings of acceleration of military preparations, new missile texts, even the announcement – leaked by the Liberation People’s Army vertices – that a war with the US would be sooner or later inevitable, have sprung up.
But underneath also many positive signs move around. The flight in the US of Jack Ma, owner of Alibaba, received in the Trump Tower after having publicly announced that the Chinese platform is ready to create one million jobs in the US. Or the appointment of Terry Branstad, formalized this week in Beijing as ambassador: the governor of Iowa who personally knows Xi Jinping for thirty years and whom the Chinese president considers “a friend”.
The greeting card arrived only today is the last positive signal. Moreover, as remind the Chinese, the just started Year of the Rooster can mean many things: a lot of prosperity but also a lot of aggressivity, given the rooster’s tendency to raise its head.
Source: La Repubblica