Leaked Diplomatic Memo Ahead of Trump and Xi Meeting Details Weird Gifts to be Exchanged
Following confirmation that President Donald Trump would host China’s Paramount Leader Xi Jinping at his infamous Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on April 6 and 7, citizens of the two countries have now received a rare opportunity to see the the gifts that will be exchanged between the two leaders before they’ve even been unwrapped.
The diplomatic insight – perhaps a sign of how the two-day meeting is likely to pan out – comes thanks to a confidential memo leaked on Wikileaks early this morning. In it, details of several gifts set to be doled out between the two delegations are laid out, and include items that may give some cause for concern given that at best they seemingly overlook known facts about the recipient, and at worst they touch upon a number of cultural sensitivities that could cause a minor political snafu.
Xi’s first choice on the list of presents to give is, somewhat unsurprisingly, a bottle of Moutai baijiu, a favorite among China’s elite and a surefire way to grease relations. That is, it would be had Donald Trump not sworn to never drink alcohol after his brother Freddy Trump, who was an alcoholic, died because of the stuff, but not before telling him (with the true Trumpy eloquence we've all come to expect), “Don't ever drink. Don't ever drink.”
If that present was likely to get talks off to a sour start then at least the next offering of National Geographic’s documentary on the Great Wall of China (which can be seen in full here) shows a certain amount of humor from the Chinese delegation, albeit humor that not everyone back in the US might find amusing. One can only assume that the last laugh is on Donald though since a DVD about the wall might be a little easier for him to digest rather than let’s say, a book that isn’t his.
Which leads us straight into The Donald’s list of allegedly prepared presents for Xi, the first of which is, you guessed it, a signed copy of his very own Trump: The Art of the Deal. Lauded by even the New York Times as a book in which “Trump makes one believe for a moment in the American dream again,” this one’s sure to stay (unread) on Xi Jinping’s bedside table for years to come. Then again, it may actually help Beijing penetrate the baffling nature of Trump’s gobbledegook and his teams foreign policy creation at large, playing instead into the super power’s hands when “dealing” with the US.
The second of Trump’s donations comes in the form of another object close to his heart, or should we say, head, and comes in the form of his favored comb. Long the subject of debate, Trump’s hair may actually be the key to his superpowers, which is a polite way of saying that he has none. His thatch is however some small feat for humanity and is likely one that he and Xi shall discuss at large next weekend, especially since politburo custom holds that China’s leaders sport jet-black but similarly fanciful and gravity-defying combed styles.
Despite what the leaders think of their new cache, the result of a long tradition whereby country leaders often exchange gifts upon meeting with each other – sometimes jokingly – before hashing out the more intricate and heavy matters of their bilateral relations, one odd stipulation in the whole theatrical nature of the exchange is that neither will actually be able to keep what they are endowed, even if they wanted to.
That’s for fear that if leaders were granted the ability to stash their bounty the goods may act as a bribe and affect future relations, or one would presume, perhaps even be seen as so heinous as to ignite conflict. Despite that fact, countries also do reject them outright and leaders often go out of their way to provide luxurious bestowals that represent their culture and background.
So far there has been no indication as to who may have leaked the document and neither government have answered calls as to how it found its way onto the Internet. It is also uncertain how the leak will affect the upcoming meeting and whether the gifts will still be exchanged given the embarrassing nature of the political gaff.
The leak also comes at a particularly sensitive time for Trump given that he is currently undergoing investigation by the FBI for his campaign officials’ alleged ties to Russia in the run up to his presidency, and shines further light on the ongoing issue of hacking in today's global political sphere.
As Trump has already envisioned, the world's two biggest superpowers are likely to have a "very difficult" meeting to discuss a number of issues, including trade, what stance to take on an increasingly erratic North Korea, ongoing territory disputes, and the recent US-backed deployment of the THAAD system in South Korea.
Gifts or no gifts, perhaps one indication of how the delicate game of foreign policy pass the parcel has gone come April 6 is to watch for the state of Trump's (tiny) handshake with Xi, and observe whether he is quite so liberal as he was with Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe when the two met at Mar-a-Lago back in February.
An in-depth look into gifts given to Chinese leaders since the formation of the Chinese Communist Party can be found at the National Museum.
More stories by this author here.
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Photos: reutersmedia.net, jingdaily.com, huffingtonpost.com, ibtimes.com, japonesque.com, Trump (via Twitter)
