特朗普与习近平会晤，美方给予罕见高规格接待

E GREAT REPORTING. AMNA: FOR A PERSPECTIVE ON THE VISIT WE TURN TO THE FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA NICHOLAS BURNS. NOW A PROFESSOR AT HARVARD. AND SAM SACHS, A SENIOR FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE FOR AMERICA, CHINA, AND THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL AFFAIRS AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. SHE IS WRITING A BOOK ABOUT DATA AND TRUST IN U.S. CHINA RELATIONS. AMBASSADOR BURNS, I WILL BEGIN WITH YOU AND HOW THIS VISIT BEGAN. WE SAW PRESIDENT TRUMP GO TO GREET PRESIDENT XI ON THE TARMAC AT JOINT BASE ANDREWS, A VERY RARE, PERSONAL RECEPTION BY A U.S.

PRESIDENT WHO TYPICALLY RECEIVES FOREIGN LEADERS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THE DECISION AND THE MESSAGE IT SENDS?

I THINK IT IS POSITIVE THE TWO ARE MEETING BECAUSE THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST DANGEROUS RELATIONSHIP THE UNITED STATES AS SO YOU HAVE TO MEET WITH XI JINPING AND I UNDERSTAND PRESIDENT TRUMP WANTS HIM TO BE CIVIL AND DELIGHT -- POLITE. BUT THIS HAS BEEN AN OVER-THE-TOP VISIT IN TERMS OF THE CEREMONY AND THE POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE, NO AMERICAN PRESIDENT HAD GONE OUT TO GREET A VISITING LEADER SINCE JOHN F. KENNEDY IN 1962 AND HE GREETED OUR ALLY THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER.

IF YOU COMBINE THAT WITH THE LAVISH WELCOME THIS MORNING AND THE STATE DINNER THIS EVENING, I DON'T THINK XI JINPING IS GOING TO BE SWAYED BY FLATTERY. HE'S NOT A SENTIMENTAL PERSON. I'VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN MEETINGS -- MEETINGS WITH HIM. HE'S HARDHEADED AND PRAGMATIC AND CYNICAL ABOUT THE UNITED STATES AND HIS STRATEGY IS TO UNDERMINE THE UNITED STATES SOIL DON'T GET WHY PRESIDENT TRUMP THINKS THAT THIS KIND OF PRAISE THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP SAID TODAY, WE HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA.

WE ACTUALLY DON'T. WE HAVE A VERY COMPETITIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA. THERE IS AN UNWRITTEN RULE IN AMERICAN DIPLOMACY THAT WE OUGHT TO BE NICER TO OUR FRIENDS AND ALLIES THEN WE ARE TO OUR ADVERSARIES. THERE IS ANOTHER LEAD UP IN THE UNITED STATES. THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN, A TRUE ALLY OF THE UNITED STATES, I WOULD HAVE RATHER SEEN A STATE DINNER FOR HER AND A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT XI JINPING TO SHOW HIM WE VALUE OUR ALLIES, CANADA, JAPAN THAT WE VALUE THEM IN TERMS OF PRAISE MORE THAN CHINESE LEADERSHIP.

AMNA: SAM SACHS, YOU GO TO CHINA OFTEN, YOU SPEAK CHINESE. HOW IS THIS RECEPTION OF XI BY PRESIDENT TRUMP LIKELY TO RESONATE IN CHINA? DO YOU BELIEVE PRESIDENT TRUMP IS TREATING HIS ADVERSARIES BETTER THAN HIS U.S. ALLIES?

I WAS IN CHINA FOR MUCH OF JULY AND I THINK GOING INTO THE SUMMIT THIS WEEK. AND EXPECTATIONS WERE VERY LOW PARTICULARLY WHEN IT COMES TO AI, BOTH SIDES HAVE BEEN FOCUSING ON AN AI RACE AND THE REALITY THAT WE HAVE SHARED VULNERABILITIES. SO UNTIL THIS WEEK IT WAS UNCLEAR WHETHER THIS WOULD BE ON THE AGENDA. YES, PRESIDENT TRUMP IS MUCH COZIER WITH AUTOCRATS THEN HE HAS WITH LIKE-MINDED DEMOCRATIC LEADERS AND THAT IS A PROBLEM, BUT THE REALITY IS WE HAVE TO COEXIST WITH CHINA TO TALK ABOUT SHARED VULNERABILITIES WHEN IT COMES TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND MY SENSE FROM LONG CONVERSATION WITH CHINE