If there's a moment that should give Americans pause, it is Donald Trump, international ingenue, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, son of a Mao Zedong confidante and victim of the Cultural Revolution, who climbed atop the world's biggest political heap. Xi also knows as much about Middle America as does the U.S. president, having once spent time with a typical Midwestern family.
Trump is not a man who devotes much time to preparing. But much depends on him learning about both China and Xi, particularly what motivates them. The most important bilateral relationship in the world is that between the United States of America and China.
The starting point should be to hire a few people to staff the State Department and other agencies. No secretary of state, no matter how talented and knowledgeable, can manage U.S. foreign policy alone.
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