Apart from being lousy at things like

- acknowledging climate change,

- realising that building a wall isn't going to solve immigration woes and

- coming up with a good alternative healthcare plan, just to name three,

yet another one area U.S. President Donald Trump has found himself wanting in his term thus far lies in his diplomacy with China.

Thankfully though, we have his eldest daughter Ivanka, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and their two elder children Arabella and Joseph (they also have a one-year-old, Theodore):

On Friday, while we were all busy flipping out over the City Harvest appeal verdict, these two of Trump's grandchildren showcased their Mandarin-speaking skills to visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and first lady Peng Liyuan.

Five-year-old Arabella with her three-year-old brother, Joseph, sang a Chinese folk song called Mo Li Hua (or “Jasmine Flower”) and recited verses from the "Three-Character Classics" (known as “san zi jing” in Chinese) as well as Tang dynasty poems for them, during their visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Proud mummy Ivanka posted a video of the children’s performance on her social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Very proud of Arabella and Joseph for their performance in honor of President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan's official visit to the US! pic.twitter.com/fu3RIh26UO

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 7, 2017

Trump and Xi met this week for the first time since the Donald took office. In the 2-minute clip, which was also shared by Trump, Ivanka was heard telling their super-duper VIP Chinese guests: “We want to make you feel at home”.

Xi can also be heard in the video gushing over the precociousness of the two kids in Chinese. Here's a rough translation of what he said:

"With teachings like this, these two kids will be like Chinese kids. Chinese kids at her age may not even know as many Chinese poems as her (Arabella)."

Love for Chinese culture

This perhaps being one of her wiser parenting decisions, 35-year-old Ivanka has been immersing her children in Chinese culture, posting a video or photo of Arabella every year without fail to mark Chinese New Year.

Arabella has gone on to become quite the star in China. Two videos that went viral on local social media platforms like Weibo were posted by Ivanka, including one in February last year showing Arabella reciting Tang Dynasty poems in Mandarin, while dressed in a traditional Chinese blouse.

It only got about 100 million views:

View this post on Instagram

Arabella wanted to have a pre-bedtime #ChineseNewYear party this past Sunday evening. She got all dressed up and performed songs and poems for Jared, Joseph and me. It was pretty adorable 🐒#yearofthemonkey #happyChineseNewYear

A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump) on Feb 10, 2016 at 5:29am PST

Ivanka had also posted another video on Instagram in February this year of the five-year-old playing with a traditional Chinese string puppet and singing the Chinese version of Happy New Year.

Arabella singing a song she learned for #ChineseNewYear. Wishing everyone an amazing year to come during these days of celebration. 新年快乐！ pic.twitter.com/jxHHLvhmzm

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) February 2, 2017

It wasn't just this time they lent the Donald a helping hand, though.

In early February, after the White House failed to send what is supposed to be an annual customary Lunar New Year greeting to Beijing, amid the controversy over Trump's wavering commitment to the "One China" policy, Ivanka and Arabella made a surprise visit to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., to attend a Lunar New Year party hosted by Ambassador Cui Tiankai.

Arabella was dressed in all red, too — and in all her darling, joined her mom in mingling with the crowd, while speaking most intelligently about their love for China.

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Youngest grandson Theodore also learning Chinese

And in case you think Theodore is missing out, that certainly isn't the case.

In nearly Singaporean-level Tiger Mum style, the one-year-old seems to have also started learning Chinese.

One week after his first birthday, Ivanka had posted on Facebook and Instagram a picture of herself and Theodore playing at home with the caption: 'The best moment of the day!'

And in front of baby Theodore: a set of building blocks covered in colourful Chinese words. He was playing with the Uncle Goose Chinese Character Blocks, which teaches children, through educational play, the Chinese characters and pronunciation for numbers, animals and other concepts.

Now, before you ask where we're going with all this, bear in mind that the US-China relationship is arguably the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. Besides formal exchanges and visits, the Donald certainly could do with some help to build rapport with the already-ruffled Chinese leaders.

And based on Ivanka's (pretty intelligent, if we do say so ourselves) soft approach, he can certainly count on his grandchildren's increasing proficiency in the Chinese language and culture to boost his image in China and help him accomplish that.

Although again, sometimes, there's only so much you can do.

Check out some photos from the Trump-Xi meeting here:

Top photo from Getty Images

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