The source material provided did not contain accessible article content, as it was blocked by a subscription paywall from the Financial Times. As a result, the specific facts, quotes, and details regarding the reported story on China's response to treatment by the Trump administration could not be independently verified or summarized from this source.

Based on the headline — 'Xi got face': China relishes equal treatment from Trump — the story appears to concern Chinese perceptions of diplomatic parity or respect gained through interactions with the Trump administration, likely in the context of recent U.S.-China trade negotiations. The phrase 'got face' is a reference to the Chinese cultural concept of 'mianzi,' or social prestige and respect, suggesting Beijing viewed the outcome of talks as a public affirmation of China's standing as an equal power.

This framing would be consistent with reports from mid-May 2025, when the United States and China announced a temporary truce in their trade war, agreeing to substantially reduce tariffs on each other's goods for a 90-day period. The agreement followed high-level talks in Geneva between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, and represented a significant de-escalation from tariff levels that had reached as high as 145 percent on Chinese goods and 125 percent on American goods.

For China, the optics of sitting across the table from senior U.S. officials and emerging with mutual concessions — rather than unilateral demands — carried significant domestic and international weight. Beijing has consistently framed its position in the trade dispute as one of principled resistance, and any agreement structured as reciprocal rather than capitulatory would be presented to domestic audiences as a validation of that stance. The 90-day window leaves the longer-term trajectory of U.S.-China trade relations unresolved, with further negotiations expected.