St. Petersburg, Jared Kushner, North Korea: Your Morning Briefing
_____ • Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump will be sizing each other up starting Thursday at Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
One even praised Mr. Trump for daring "to openly promote the political ideas of Chairman Mao." _____ • Cambodia has long declined to pay back hundreds of
millions of dollars the U.S. lent it during the bitter years of the Vietnam War — money used to feed and clothe refugees displaced by American bombs.
Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, once again served as a primary diplomatic envoy, arriving in Iraq for what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called " an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign." _____
• Japan is sending its ambassador back to South Korea after a three-month diplomatic break over the "comfort women" issue, saying it needs someone there in light of Seoul’s political turmoil and the increased danger posed by the North.
The North’s global threat, a key topic when President Xi Jinping of China and Mr. Trump meet this week, appears to be increasing.
But when Prime Minister Hun Sen recently pressured Mr. Trump to forgive the debt outright, critics saw domestic
political purposes, like distracting attention from his own government’s clampdown on dissent.
_____ • "He’s done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation."
That was President Trump, speaking at the White House and welcoming Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
But many ordinary Chinese people taking their own measure of Mr. Trump have been left bewildered, incensed and, sometimes, inspired.