A delicate dance, but is China finally losing patience with Donald Trump?

MOVES for American missiles to be positioned in South Korea, and China’s warning it will “take measures” in retaliation, could lead to increased tensions.

US President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House this week.

CHINA’S patience with Donald Trump could be running out.

Moves for American missiles to be positioned in South Korea, and China’s warning it will “take measures” in retaliation, could ruin what has been a balanced stand-off.

Amid the global agitation caused by the Trump presidency, there has been one unlikely island of public calm: Beijing.

It’s the most-watched dance in world diplomacy, the delicate two-step of China and America under the Donald Trump presidency.

Despite early provocations the Chinese government, through its public mouthpieces, has been talking more of a glowing relationship than a Trump-fuelled meltdown.

It might take a while, but as one commentator wrote in Chinese newspaper The People’s Daily, the official organ of the Communist Party: “There is a Chinese saying: ‘Good food is worth waiting for’.”

Trump, pictured here on a newspaper poster, is big news in China. Picture: AFP

The Australia-China Relations Institute of the University of Technology Sydney has tracked the Beijing government’s sedate public mood in response to Mr Trump’s wilder pronouncements.

One example commented on by the ACRI, “Bellicose (English-language) Global Times headlines have tended to attract foreign media attention, but even this publication known for its nationalist commentary has emphasised restraint.”

Initially Mr Trump directly challenged Chinese priorities by threatening a trade war, and by taking a telephone call from the Taiwan leadership. This phonecall was seen as a return to the “two Chinas policy” and could only be repaired by Trump call to Chinese President Xi JinPing.

“At the highest level of interaction between China and the US, Trump personally emphasised the US Government’s commitment to the One China policy, and this should be praised,” said a relieved People’s Daily.

A noted TV commentator, using those remarkable and at times charming phrases of Chinese argument, said President Trump “has set upon a realist path” by re-affirming the One China stance.

“If US-China relations are handled with a realist attitude, even if there is some friction or differences between the two countries, in the end, the relationship will remain stable and won’t break down because of a few fights.”

But there were more than a few fights in play.

Another danger point is trade, after Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to penalise Chinese goods and his clear signal of oppose multi-lateral agreements by dropping the Trans Pacific Partnership.

The US President’s moves are being closely watched in Beijing. Picture: AP

The Chinese response – more in sorrow than anger — was that the US might only hurt itself. A top think tank, the Centre for China and Globalisation, voiced concerns about the “America First” approach but has accentuated the positive.

“China has a unique competitiveness in building infrastructure,” it concluded last month.

“Trump’s infrastructure construction plan might become the new highlight of US-China cooperation.”

Fears were put to rest by a sideline meeting at a G20 summit in Bonn on February 17, between Secretary of State (and Trump clean-up guy) Rex Tillerson and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi.

China’s Global Times reported, “Tillerson indicated that only friendship could define the US China relationship” and quoted Associate Dean of Renmin University’s School of International Studies Jin Canrong, “There are still many uncertainties in the US-China relationship, but this meeting brought some certainty, which is a good thing.”

The job of observers now is to see how long this good thing will last. It will depend on how long Mr Trump can be persuaded to be nice by Beijing