China’s president Xi Jinping appears to have been studying King Charles’s royal playbook when dealing with Donald Trump.

Step one: bedazzle the US President with pomp and circumstance and a “rare” visit somewhere special. In Britain’s case, this was Windsor Castle. In China, it was Zhongnanhai – the secretive compound for the Chinese leadership set in ancient imperial gardens. 

Step two: follow the King’s example in Washington last month. Fob off the Great Narcissist with warm words about friendship between their two great nations before shafting him with such a subtle – but profoundly barbed – message that Trump is either obliged to pretend he hasn’t heard it, or has genuinely failed to grasp its import.

Xi warned Trump in Beijing to stay away from “clashes and conflicts” over Taiwan’s status and reinforced this point by urging him to avoid the “Thucydides Trap” –  the theory that war breaks out when a rising power challenges a declining one. It took a while for the penny to drop that Xi thought America was in decline.

This led to some delusional spinning on Truth Social later that the Chinese leader was really harking back to the US under Joe Biden. “When President Xi very........

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