One is a strategist, controlling what he says and rarely showing any emotion. The other believes in his negotiating skills, wastes no time in actually looking at his advisers’ briefing notes and already revealed his priorities en route to Asia. Yet, his unpredictability makes him destabilizing. The diplomatic showdown of the year is set for Thursday, October 30, in South Korea, when Xi Jinping and Donald Trump will meet for the first time during Trump’s second term, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Until the last moment, the meeting wasn’t certain, buffeted by the volatility of China-US relations. On October 10, Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by 100%. But two days of negotiations in Malaysia over the weekend of October 25-26 allowed both sides to sketch out a compromise that made the encounter acceptable to each. “They want to make a deal, and we want to make a deal,” Trump said confidently on Sunday. China, meanwhile, is hoping that its approach is the right one and that it not only manages to rein in Trump but also, in the long run, maintains relative stability in their relationship.

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