Opinion | Why Xi’s decision to talk to Trump during trade crisis speaks volumes

Xi’s decision ran counter to the long-standing Chinese diplomatic approach during Sino-US tensions of the Chinese president refusing calls from the US president despite persistent entreaties. The White House had repeatedly predicted a Xi-Trump phone call only to fall silent when it did not materialise.

When I recently asked a Chinese academic why it is so hard for Xi to pick up the phone, he said that direct leader-to-leader negotiations in a time of crisis were not in the DNA of the Communist Party leadership.

Perplexed, Bush asked my China analytic team at the CIA why Deng would not take his call and why, during the crisis, Deng had disappeared from public view. Bush wondered whether he was sick or had been ousted. We explained that we had intelligence he was still in charge but that it was typical of Chinese leaders to “go to ground” during a domestic crisis and not reappear or talk to foreign leaders until they were sure that the situation had stabilised.