“Xi will have to reassess what the Trump presidency means for Chinese interests in East Asia, particularly North Korea and the South China Sea.”<br />The American strikes on Syria would quite likely make Mr. Xi be more amenable about the White House’s demand<br />that China squeeze North Korea’s economy, analysts said.<br />Despite Mr. Trump’s action against Syria in the middle of Mr. Xi’s visit, there was not an exact parallel between Syria<br />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.<br />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<br />and its capacity to hit Japan and South Korea, two American allies, Chinese analysts said.<br />The American attack on Syria on Thursday unraveled China’s well laid plans for a summit meeting<br />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.
