This is John Batchelor comments by my good colleague Gordon Chang about the president's visit of the Forbidden City and sitting in uneven chairs with Xinjiang Ping.

Gordon measures Ping, Xi Jinping, anxious, defensive, weak.

Here, he'll explain the chairs.

Patty is word.

More tonight.

I was surprised by the reference that Charles mentioned to Graham Allison's Thucydides' trap.

Also, there was Xi Jinping, also Thursday night talked about new era. That is Xi Jinping speak for the time, not when the United States is challenging China,

but the point after that where China is dominant and the United States is nowhere to be seen.

So this new era thing is even more insulting.

And, you know, Xi Jinping got really petty on the second day of the summit at Zhongnan High.

Those two chairs, Xi Jinping's chair was noticeably higher than Trump's, putting Trump in an awkward

position as he was sitting. And that struck me as

being the sign of a weak power to do something like that. And, you know, not everyone will agree,

but Trump's restraint on replying to the Thucydides trap and new error comments, I thought showed strength.

Now, I also think that Xi Jinping's a little bit silly because, you know, at the price of forgetting all of those humiliating comments out, Trump's going to hit him back.