Is Trump Speaking to Xi Jinping Pre-Inauguration Keeping Our Friends Close – and China Closer?

President-elect Donald Trump (still not tired of that) will become once again simply President Trump on Monday, but he’s not waiting around doing nothing while the Bidens pack up Joe’s drool bibs and sippy-cups, and prepare to vacate the White House. He’s been talking to other national leaders in addition to all the other transition tasks, and on Friday, he chatted with a big one – China’s Xi Jinping.

President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on America’s biggest rival.

Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese foreign ministry said. The call came the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.

Of course, the Chinese government will put a positive spin on this; Communist governments always appear downright ebullient when entering into negotiations when they think they may be at a disadvantage. And Trump seems to be making the point that, whatever China may think or want, he’s not playing around.

“We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for a good start of the China-U.S. relationship during the new U.S. presidency and are willing to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point,” Xi said in the call.

Trump confirmed on his Truth Social platform that he had spoken with Xi, saying “the call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A.” They talked about trade, fentanyl and TikTok and more, he said.

What, precisely, was said is as yet unknown.

See Related: BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules on TikTok Ban

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China is simultaneously a major trade partner with, and a rival of, the United States. While there’s no reason that the president-elect shouldn’t speak to Chairman Xi – as Winston Churchill said, meeting jaw to jaw is better than war. But President Trump hopefully harbors no illusions about what China is and what its ambitions are. China sees itself as the next global superpower, and their economic and demographic problems mean they have only a matter of a decade or two to achieve their goals.

Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio (R-FL) understands, as my colleague Teri Christoph wrote about his Secretary of State confirmation hearing on Wednesday:

Rubio’s answer to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) showed what the power structure will be like in the new administration:

“The foreign policy of the United States will be set by the president, and my job will be to advise and execute.”

See Related: Trump’s Foreign Policy Priorities Come Into Sharp Focus at Marco Rubio’s Confirmation Hearing

The incoming president has spoken with Xi before, both during and after his first term, and has repeatedly stated that they have a “very good relationship.” With two near-peer powers like China and the United States, and presumably Russia, communications are important.

But I would caution Trump to remember the old saying about riding a tiger; the important thing is to keep a tight grip on its ears. China will make friendly noises right up until the time that they don’t. While Japan is America’s best ally in the North Pacific now, only one, long lifetime ago, things were very different. But Japanese and American naval officers frequently made friendly visits to each other’s home nations; in fact Admiral Yamamoto traveled extensively in the United States and was keenly aware of American industrial capacity, thus the apocryphal “sleeping giant” quote.

Our industrial base isn’t what it was in 1940. And while China’s navy isn’t up to the level of the Japanese Imperial Navy in December of 1941, they are building ships at quite a pace, while we… are not.

Donald Trump is right, of course, to have communications with China. Even so, we should hope he harbors no illusions about what the Middle Kingdom sees as its role in the world.