Media Mentions

“They are calling it shuttle diplomacy but it looks more like ‘hometown’ diplomacy after these visits,” said David Boling, principal at The Asia Group. “There was a concern that this relationship could have gone in an opposite direction with these two leaders, but they have surprised a lot of people.”

Kurt Tong, managing partner of The Asia Group and former Consul General of the U.S. to Hong Kong and Macau, says while the business deals announced during the Trump-Xi summit were significant, what’s more important was the politics of President Trump signaling to the business constituency that there is “forward movement” in the relationship between

Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group observed, Xi wanted “disciplined optics and at least a few concrete outcomes that demonstrate the relationship remains manageable.” On why Xi warned that miscalculations over Taiwan could lead to conflict: So in Chinese there’s an expression, you can be in the same bed with different dreams.

Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group observed, “Xi is thinking beyond Washington. The summit is also aimed at Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Global South. China wants countries to see Beijing as indispensable to global supply chains, climate cooperation, and economic growth.” On what Han observed from the Trump-Xi summit: It’s been very

Han Shen Lin, China managing director for The Asia Group consultancy, added that “the challenge is that the positive reception Trump received in China will be very difficult to reciprocate when Xi next goes to the US.”

“Huang, Musk and Cook in Beijing isn’t a coincidence, it’s choreography,” said Lin Han-Shen, China Country Director at The Asia Group.

Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group noted that “things not getting worse may be the best that corporate leaders can expect but that’s still worth something in an increasingly volatile world.”

Han Lin, China Country Director of The Asia Group noted that without “enough ‘wins’ Trump may step back and let’s his more hawkish administration drive the bilateral relationship.  This will undoubtedly take us on the road to escalation.“

While concrete deliverables were limited, Mr George Chen, partner for Greater China practice at the Washington-based advisory The Asia Group, believes that personal dynamics matter. “Perhaps the most important development was not any single deal, but the simple fact that Xi and Trump finally spent extended time together again since their last meeting in Busan,”

“The summit has much more on positive atmospherics than deliverables, or at least on what China will officially acknowledge,” said Han Shen Lin, ⁠the Shanghai-based ​China country director at U.S. consultancy firm The Asia Group. “Nonetheless, if Beijing doesn’t give Trump ​enough ‘wins’ to take home, the risk is that in his disappointment, Trump steps