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It is believed that Russia is not exercising as sophisticated an influence as China because of Trump's apparent affinity with President Vladimir V. Putin, a former official said.
China's effort is a 21st-century version of what local officials have been doing for decades trying to influence US leaders by developing an informal network of businessmen. and leading academics who can be sold with the help of ideas and policy recommendations, and then pursued. the White House. The difference is that China, through its indiscreet listening to Mr. Trump's calls, has a much clearer idea of who exerts the most influence with the president and the arguments that tend to work.
The Chinese and Russians "were looking for any little thing – how easy was it to discuss something, what was the argument that had been used," said John Sipher, a veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency 28 years old who served in Moscow the 1990s and later led the agency's program in Russia.
Trump's friends like Mr. Schwarzman, who played a leading role in the first meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr. Trump in Mar-a-Lago, the Florida president's seaside resort, already have favorable views of China and trade. ideal targets for the Chinese, said the officials. Targeting the friends of Mr. Schwarzman and Mr. Wynn can reinforce the views of both, the officials said. Friends are also more likely to be more accessible.
One official said the Chinese were urging friends to persuade Mr. Trump to sit down with Mr. Xi as often as possible. According to the Chinese official, the Chinese people rightly perceive that Mr. Trump attaches great importance to personal relations and that face-to-face meetings lead to much more frequent progress than regular contacts between officials. Chinese and American.
Another question is whether friends can prevent Trump from waging a trade war with China.
Officials said the president had two official iPhones modified by the National Security Agency (National Security Agency) to limit their capabilities – and vulnerabilities – and a third personal phone that does not differ from the hundreds of millions of iPhone used in the world. Mr. Trump keeps his personal phone, White House officials said, because unlike his other two phones, he can register his contacts.
