Trump did not arrive in China with a normal delegation. He came with the whole nervous system of American capitalism behind him.
Musk. Cook. Fink. Schwarzman. Solomon. Fraser. Ortberg. Huang. Mastercard. Visa. GE. Micron. Qualcomm. Cargill. Meta. Illumina. Coherent. The list reads like a boardroom roll call for an empire that finally understands where the century is moving.
Then Beijing receives him with red carpet, honor guard, military band, hundreds of Chinese youth waving both flags, the Great Hall of the People, the Temple of Heaven, and a state banquet.
After years of Washington lecturing the world about China, its own corporate elite still had to fly to Beijing for market access, chips, rare earths, approvals, trade stability, and economic survival. The decoupling script collapses the moment the CEOs board the plane.
China is no longer waiting outside the room. China is the room.