It's overall an interesting time for US President Donald Trump to be in China for a Summit meet with Xi Jinping. Trump has repeatedly threatened China over trade, imposing tariffs above 140% last year.
Iran’s shadow:
The US-Israeli war with Iran, and ensuing global energy crisis, looms over the trip. Trump is expected to encourage Xi to push China-ally Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint vital to oil trade, and agree to a peace deal.
But Xi held some cards of his own and did not fold. Instead, China blocked exports of its rare earth minerals and magnets to the US. Trump, finally, backed down.
The US has depleted notable levels of its weapons arsenal in the war against Iran, with many weaponry components requiring critical minerals that are linked to supply chains dominated by China.
China is expected to announce purchases related to Boeing airplanes. There are other key issues on the table.
Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping stood together as the national anthems of the United States and China were played during the official welcome ceremony. The two leaders then walked along a red carpet to inspect the military honour guard, accompanied by a goose-stepping Chinese service member.
They also stopped briefly to acknowledge dozens of children waving flowers at the venue.
Beijing is keen to push the US on Taiwan, Trump is eager for China to lean on Tehran to advance peace talks
China and the US are locked into a race on artificial intelligence that is becoming something of a technological cold war.
In April, the White House accused China of stealing US AI labs’ intellectual property on an industrial scale, claims Beijing denied. Meanwhile, Beijing has been frustrated by Washington’s reluctance to allow Nvidia to export its most powerful processing chips to China. In January, the White House said Nvidia could export its second most powerful chip, the H200, but no shipments have been sent yet.
Analysts and ethics leaders hope Trump and Xi will discuss non-binding AI guidelines, including sharing information about AI misuse and safety, which are seen as critical guardrails amid the advent of AI weaponry and military adoption.
Beijing is keen to push the US on Taiwan, with Trump saying he is prepared to raise the issue of arms sales to the island, which China claims as a breakaway territory despite never having ruled it. In December, Trump authorised an $11bn arms package for Taiwan, the largest weapons sale ever to the island, but no shipments have been made yet.
Xi may seek changes in how the US refers to Taiwan. Ideally, from the perspective of Beijing, this would be a statement from Washington “opposing” Taiwan’s independence rather than “not supporting” it. Taiwan will be watching closely. Just two weeks ago, China’s foreign minister in a phone call with Marco Rubio urged the US to “make the right choices” on Taiwan.
With Trump known to veer off script, John Kirby, a former US state department and Pentagon spokesperson cautioned:
“They just have to be so extraordinarily precise when you’re talking about Taiwan because, quite frankly, the stakes are enormously high.”
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