May 12, 2026 12:54 pm IST

Opinion | Trump-Xi Talks: When One Is Playing Chess, And Other Is Flipping The Board

Xi seeks cumulative advantage. Trump? Short-term spectacle. This distinction will decide what comes of the talks between the two leaders this week.

Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Columnist

Brig (Retd) Anil Raman Columnist

As Donald Trump prepares for talks with Xi Jinping between May 13 and May 15, the most important contrast may not be between the United States and China themselves, but between two fundamentally different styles of leadership, decision-making, and strategic time horizons.

Trump approaches geopolitics tactically, transactionally, and reactively. His diplomacy is summit-driven and media-centered, focused heavily on immediate optics and even the smallest media gain. He seeks visible outcomes quickly: tariffs, dramatic negotiations, public threats, and rapid declarations of success. Success is measured politically and immediately.

This style has strengths. Trump instinctively understands escalation psychology and recognises that unpredictability itself can become a negotiating tool. He also understands that traditional foreign policy bureaucracies often become rigid, slow, and detached from domestic political sentiment.

But tactical leadership also produces instability.

Under Trump, decision-making increasingly becomes personalised rather than institutionalised. Formal advisory structures weaken as influence shifts toward informal networks, personal loyalists, media narratives, business figures, and ad hoc channels of access. Policy often appears to emerge through instinct, conversation, and political impulse rather than through disciplined interagency processing.

This creates volatility not only for adversaries but........

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