'FAFO' and 'Stand with us': Intimidation on the diplomatic stage

Trump’s “FAFO” and Xi’s call to “stand on the right side” share the same core message. Both are warnings from major powers: listen to me, respect my interests, do not entertain other ideas, get in line.

Chang Se-jeong The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Diplomacy is theater. Like a play in which actors deliver lines from a script, performance matters in foreign policy. On the world stage, the leading actors of this era are U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Their choices of tone and timing can send tremors across the world.

An image posted on the official White House Instagram account by President Donald Trump. [WHITE HOUSE INSTAGRAM CAPTURE]

At the start of the new year, both men rolled out productions in which each served as director and star. Trump moved first. On Jan. 3, he seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him to the United States. The writer argues that the action flouted the spirit of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter. Drug charges were presented as a pretext, the column says, while oil interests and signaling toward China and Russia formed the real backdrop.

In this telling, Kim Jong-un responded about seven hours later with a ballistic missile launch. Some voices in Korea denounced Washington’s move as “neo-imperialism.” The episode is framed as a sharp turn in posture: a United States that had seemed to drift toward a new isolationism in Trump’s second term swinging toward intervention.

The column coins “Donroe Doctrine” as a Trumpian remix of the Monroe Doctrine, an expansionist view of U.S. primacy. It is described as selective convenience, with international law treated as optional whenever it collides with U.S. interests.

Trump’s staging did not stop with Maduro’s seizure. The White House soon posted a stark black-and-white photograph on its official social media account showing Trump climbing a staircase with a grim expression. Beneath it were the words “No games. FAFO.” In American slang, FAFO is shorthand for “[expletive] around and find out,” an intentionally crude threat.

Who the message targeted became a subject of debate. It could be aimed at hostile states that challenge Washington. It could also be read as a warning that allies are not exempt if they cross U.S. interests. Some observers argued that the background was Gimhae Airport and that the post was meant to needle Xi, recalling a meeting during the Gyeongju APEC gathering in October 2025. Others read it as an indirect shot at Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, and his China policy.

Xi’s performance, the writer argues, has been no less calculating. Amid U.S.-China rivalry and renewed China-Japan friction, he invited Lee, the leader of a Korea aligned with Washington and Tokyo, for a state visit. Lee urged Beijing to play a more active mediating role between the two Koreas. Xi drew a line, replying that “patience is necessary.” China’s statement omitted references to denuclearization or unification, a silence the column links to Beijing’s sensitivity toward Pyongyang.

Lee sought commitments on issues such as lifting China’s informal restrictions on Korean popular culture and addressing Chinese structures in the Yellow Sea’s interim zone. Xi offered no clear answer. There was no joint statement. Lee nonetheless described the trip as an achievement, arguing that it restored Korea-China relations in full. The writer notes that the visit avoided the optics of the Moon Jae-in era and eased the emotional confrontation of the Yoon Suk Yeol period.

President Lee Jae Myung, on a state visit to China, takes a selfie with President Xi Jinping using a Xiaomi smartphone that Xi presented to him at the Gyeongju summit, after an official banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 5 (local time). [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Xi’s sharpest line came elsewhere. With Lee seated across from him, he urged Korea to “stand firmly on the right side of history and make the correct strategic choice.” The phrasing was polite but the substance was a lecture, the column says, pressing Korea to choose China’s side as contests with Washington and Tokyo intensify. In Seoul, the remark drew criticism as discourteous, despite its polished language about history and strategy.

The conclusion is that Trump’s “FAFO” and Xi’s call to “stand on the right side” share the same core message. Both are warnings from major powers: listen to me, respect my interests, do not entertain other ideas, get in line. If Korea hopes to become a lead actor rather than a prop on someone else’s stage, the writer argues, it should learn from Singapore: think deeply, speak less, act with discipline and build the capacity to negotiate on equal footing.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.