Donald Trump has been branded “pathetic” by critics for his physique language throughout his assembly with Chinese language President Xi Jinping in Beijing
Chinese language President Xi Jinping, left, shakes palms with U.S. President Donald Trump on the Nice Corridor (Picture: Getty)
Donald Trump has been branded “pathetic” for his behaviour throughout his assembly with Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, whereas Vladimir Putin has drawn reward for his conduct upon arriving in China. President Trump and his Russian counterpart each made separate journeys to China inside days of each other over the previous week. The US commander-in-chief travelled to Beijing final week for high-level discussions masking a broad vary of matters, together with commerce, funding, the conflict in Iran, and Taiwan.
Simply days later, Russia’s President Putin touched down in Beijing for his personal assembly with the Chinese language chief. Mr Trump has since been broadly ridiculed over the obvious distinction between his greeting of President Xi and the strategy taken by his Russian counterpart.
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Trump’s Handshake with Xi versus Putin’s
Who’s the stronger chief? pic.twitter.com/cYKbtFPXTK
— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) Might 20, 2026
Footage circulating on social media captures President Trump deploying his well-known ‘energy transfer’ handshake upon touchdown in Beijing, seizing President Xi’s hand and yanking it in the direction of him. The US chief can also be seen patting his Chinese language counterpart’s hand along with his left hand.
Video of Mr Putin’s arrival, in contrast, reveals the Russian and Chinese language leaders exchanging greetings in a much more standard style, clasping palms and turning in the direction of the assembled cameras as they share phrases. One person on X, previously Twitter, labelled Mr Trump’s conduct “pathetic”, studies the Mirror US.
They stated: “Xi – he met with each, and each coming to China. Btw Putin and Xi = mutual respect. Trump and Xi – Trump attempting to exert dominance, however it got here as pathetic try, it is just for picture op.” One other stated: “The Trump handshake was pathetic, with Putin it’s pure nature.”
And another person wrote: “Putin as his handshake is of an equal. Trump handshake is of a underling because the palm is dealing with up in submission.”
In the meantime, it has been revealed that Mr Trump has been handed a mocking nickname in China. The US president is reportedly being known as “Chuan Jianguo” on Chinese language social media.
This instantly interprets to “Trump the Nation Builder” – however, based on customers, it’s a sarcastic insinuation that the US chief’s confrontational overseas coverage has assisted Beijing in surpassing Washington on the world stage. The moniker reportedly implies Trump is a “patriotic son” of China, working to advance their nation reasonably than his personal.
It ridicules Trump’s makes an attempt to undermine China whereas defending US pursuits. Among the many most seen manifestations of this have been the exceptionally excessive and unpredictable tariffs he slapped on China, alongside negotiating an settlement to curtail fentanyl precursors.
Paradoxically, as highlighted by the nickname, the US tariffs have compelled China to turn out to be extra self-sufficient than ever earlier than, by driving it to reinforce home innovation in sectors corresponding to know-how, power, and meals safety. The tariffs spurred China to determine new markets in Southeast Asia and Africa, diminishing its dependence on the US market.
President Xi, in the meantime, has described the connection between Beijing and Moscow as being at “the very best stage of complete strategic partnership”, whereas Mr Putin praised ties as being at an “unprecedentedly excessive stage”.
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