China publicly criticises US missile strike on Syria
US President Donald Trump ordered the missile strike on Syria’s Sharyat air base whilst he was actually hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his holiday home in Florida.
This fact would have put the Chinese in a difficult position, with the choice being whether to criticise the strike immediately, putting their President in the embarrassing position of appearing to quarrel with his host and of risking the collapse of the entire summit, or of waiting for Xi Jinping’s return to Beijing. Wisely the Chinese settled on the second course.
