By Scott Kennedy/ Originally Posted at Washinton Post/ July 2

Minutes after a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, President Trump declared, “I think we’re going to be strategic partners.”

This was quite a turnaround from the Trump administration’s standard posture on China. The administration’s National Security Strategy, issued in late 2017, refers to China as a “competitor,” “rival power” and “revisionist power.” Vice President Pence expanded on this framing in his landmark speech at the Hudson Institute in October 2018, essentially describing China as a full-blown ideological opponent of the United States.

Did the administration win so much in Osaka to justify a comprehensive transformation in how to characterize the relationship? Absolutely not. Read more…