Officials called it the ‘hold room’, a private space in the West Wing of the White House set aside for Xi Jinping to take lengthy rest breaks between meetings during last month’s summit with Donald Trump.
The demand for the room was highly unusual, according to US officials, and may hold the secret of a gathering mystery – that of the true state of the Chinese leader’s health.
Trump claimed 73–year–old Xi looked ‘strong, vibrant and fit’, but – privately – officials were struck by his physical weakness.
China demanded a substantial amount of downtime be built into the schedule and were concerned about
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