Foreign diplomats based in Washington find dealing with Donald Trump's inner circle "very confusing", the Chinese ambassador to the United States revealed yesterday (Sunday). Cui Tiankai said he had spoken with ambassadors to other nations who also share his concerns about the difficulty of working with top members of the administration. During an interview with US TV, he said it was often hard to know who was in charge of what. "Honestly, I’ve been talking to ambassadors of other countries in Washington, DC, and this is also part of their problem," said Ambassador Tiankai. "They don’t know who is the final decision-maker. Of course, presumably, the president will take the final decision, but who is playing what role? Sometimes it could be very confusing." His comments came as tensions over trade tariffs between the two super powers reach fever pitch and ahead of a likely meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mr Trump at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina next month. The ambassador also described the presence of US warships in the South China Seas as being "on the offensive" after a destroyer almost collided with an aggressive Chinese military vessel earlier this month. He said: "Where the incident took place, you were right to say it was in South China Sea. So it’s at China’s doorstep.  "It’s not Chinese warships that are going to the coast of California, or to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s so close to the Chinese islands and it’s so close to the Chinese coast. So who is on the offensive? Who is on the defensive? This is very clear." And on Mr Trump's accusations that China routinely steals the intellectual property of Americans, the high-ranking diplomat said: "I think all of these accusations about how China has developed are groundless and not fair to the Chinese people."

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