Washington, DC [US], September 24 (ANI): Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton said he would be surprised if Chinese President Xi Jinping's three-day official state visit to the United States results in any significant substantive outcomes, saying that that the US President thrives on 'pomp and circumstance'.

He said US President Donald Trump's approach of viewing relations with other countries through his personal relationship with foreign leaders could be a mistake while dealing with leaders such as Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to ANI on Wednesday, Bolton said, 'Trump believes that US relations with other countries are seen largely through the prism of his personal relationship with foreign leaders, which is a big mistake when dealing with hard men like Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin. They don't allow their feelings about a foreign leader to get in the way of pursuing their respective national interests. Trump thrives on pomp and circumstance."

"That is mostly what this summit is going to be. I would be surprised at this point if anything really significant came out of it from a substantive point of view. Much of the world is interested in what they say to each other about artificial intelligence, which Trump renamed yesterday as 'super intelligence.' I don't think much will come out of that. The bar is pretty low here for what the outcomes might be," he further said. 

Bolton said that a successful meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would be one that prevents further deterioration in bilateral relations, while asserting that he does not see groundwork for major agreements on significant issues.

He added that the engagement between the two countries should not be viewed merely as competition between democratic nations seeking economic cooperation.

"I think it's important to recognise that China has aspirations in the near term for hegemony all along its Indo-Pacific periphery, in the East China Sea and Southeast Asia and South Asia with its long contested land border with India. And I think it has longer-term ambitions for hegemony worldwide. So, this is not a discussion between democratic countries that are looking to compete economically but cooperate politically. I think the Chinese Communist Party still has its own agenda, and I think it's, it's a very dangerous one for much of the rest of the world. So, I think victory or success in this particular summit would be not having the relationship deteriorate further," he said.

"I just don't see that the groundwork has been laid for agreements on any significant issue. There was a lot of talk beforehand that a delegation of Chinese business leaders would accompany Xi Jinping, and they would announce a number of very significant business deals. I've seen this morning reports that delegation, that business delegation is not coming with Xi. That doesn't mean they couldn't announce the deals, but it suggests that maybe they didn't make as much progress as they expected. So, again, I think this could be a lot of pomp and circumstance, but very low-key on the substance," he further said. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in Washington on Wednesday (September 23) for a three-day state visit, marking his second summit with Trump in less than six months. (ANI)