You could be forgiven, reading and watching the Chinese press this week, for entirely missing U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.On Wednesday, the day that Trump arrived, the front page of the state-run English-language newspaper China Daily was dominated by Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands with the president of Tajikistan. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) newspaper, the People’s Daily, relegated commentary on the U.S. leader’s trip to Page 3.Xinwen Lianbo, the most watched nightly news broadcast in China, announced the visit on Monday in 12 seconds of coverage. For comparison, that was followed by a nearly six-minute segment titled “The Integrated Development of the Yangtze River Delta Continues to Achieve New Breakthroughs.” The Trump-Xi meeting got a whole two and a half minutes on Wednesday—in 13th place in the broadcast.As it turned out, the lack of dramatics on the Chinese side was appropriate. Trump’s visit was a snoozefest. Xi stuck to political banalities, speaking about familiar red lines: Taiwan, democracy and human rights, China’s “path and system,” and China’s “development right,” referring to its ability to move up the global economic ladder without being pushed down by Washington.The Chinese leader also returned to favorite topics. The bilateral relationship must be one of stability, not competition. It must avoid the Thucydides Trap of conflict between an established and a rising power. Together, the United States and China must always be twirling, twirling, twirling toward the future.Trump and Xi seemed to agree to little of substance, save some minor concessions over trade, such as the licensing of U.S. slaughterhouses for export to China. Even that, though, appeared to be quickly reversed. (I wouldn’t read this apparent reversal as a sign of sudden disfavor but rather of rapid lobbying by Chinese agricultural interests that have already sought government protection.)Expected deals, such as China’s promise to buy Boeing jets, fell short of what was rumored ahead of the meeting, disappointing markets. There was no sign of any movement—or even real discussion—on Iran, Taiwan, Japan, or other areas of geopolitical contention. Trump said Xi had “strongly” promised not to supply Iran with weapons; that means nothing, since any Chinese military aid to Tehran is already under the table.Yet previous U.S. presidential visits were met with far more fanfare in China’s tightly controlled media, even when little of consequence emerged. Why was Beijing so muted this time around? One reason is unpredictability…