This week’s long-awaited summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may be among the most consequential encounters between leaders of the two countries since President Richard Nixon met Chairman Mao Zedong in 1972. I played a role in planning that earlier summit as senior economic adviser on the National Security Council under Henry Kissinger; its historic success depended on both the meticulous preparation of the two leaders and their top officials and the clarity and precision with which they stated their positions and resolved their differences. Although that history may not have shaped the Trump administration’s preparations in recent weeks, Chinese officials have no doubt studied those lessons in their own preparations—and incorporated them into their plans for Xi’s discussions. As Kissinger once remarked, “Everything ever said to me by any Chinese of any station during any visit was part of an intricate design.”

I met Xi Jinping for the first time a quarter century after Nixon’s meeting with Mao. At the time, I had not heard a lot about Xi, who was then the party secretary of Zhejiang, a midsized coastal province. But soon after we were introduced (by Wang Qishan, a party official who had befriended Xi when both were laboring in a rural village during the Cultural Revolution), I could recognize his self-confidence and determination to rise in the party and overcome the obstacles that stood in his way. Such confidence and determination remain now that he is the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao—and is essential to understanding his approach to the United States generally and to his encounters with Trump in particular.

TWO COUNTRIES, TWO SYSTEMS

The United States and China approach summits with different objectives, strategies, and negotiating styles. The Chinese believe that progress on virtually any issue at a summit requires months of thoughtful negotiation by senior officials beforehand; otherwise, important agreements, much less major breakthroughs, at a two-day meeting are nearly impossible.

Chinese officials recognize that Trump’s often unpredictable approach presents unique challenges to Xi and to those advising him. In their view, a summit’s key outcomes should be embedded in a draft communiqué, or at least a few precisely worded written agreements, crafted well ahead of time by senior advisers, leaving no room for misunderstanding or conflicting characterizations in the aftermath. They also see this as allowing sufficient time for deep and personal discussions by the two leaders in the meeting itself. Chinese leaders also traditionally pay careful attention to what their American counterparts say, assuming—rightly or wrongly—that U.S. officials, and especially the president, take care in choosing their words, which are meant to reflect a long-term,........

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