BEIJING: The summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping of China commenced Thursday at the Great Hall of the People with a handshake that has more significance geopolitically and economically than any bilateral meeting in the last decade. President Xi Jinping greeted US President Donald Trump in a grand military parade with cannons firing and children waving flags from both the US and China to usher in the historical importance of the occasion even before discussing anything important.
Summit between Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing involves meeting of the world’s two greatest economic powers at a time when tensions run extremely high but there is also an extreme possibility in several fields.
Xi Gets the Meeting Off to a Great Start Partners, Not Rivals
It was Xi Jinping who made the opening statement at the Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing with perfect clarity. The US and China need to become “partners, not rivals,” said President Xi Jinping to President Donald Trump as the two heads of state met face-to-face with their delegates in attendance.
For Xi Jinping, having a positive China-US relationship would be an invaluable contribution to the global community because “cooperation benefits both sides, while conflict will hurt both.” Such an outlook on a China-US relationship would make the Trump-Xi Beijing summit one of significant consequence rather than just another diplomatic exchange, not only for China and the United States but for the rest of the world as well.
However, as always, Trump was not shy to shower praises on Xi, and he went ahead to term President Xi as “a great leader” while adding that the relationship between the two countries would be “better than ever.” The question is how much will these statements hold water during negotiations on tangible matters.
Trade War, Tariffs Stand-Off, and the Business Delegation
The summit between Trump and Xi Jinping takes place in a climate of existing trade tensions which have been characteristic of relations between the two countries for many years. The introduction of far-reaching tariffs by Trump led to retaliation in the form of tariffs of more than 100%, also leading to disruptions in business.
Now, Trump and Xi have come up with an agreement on whether or not to renew their one-year tariff ceasefire. An agreement looks unlikely at this point. Trump flew to Beijing via Air Force One accompanied by America’s richest CEO delegations, such as Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Elon Musk of Tesla, implying that Trump wants to use the Trump-Xi Beijing Summit as a platform for signing business deals in agriculture, aviation, and technology.
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Iran Puts Its Finger in Every Pie
The Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing comes with a geopolitical problem that Trump cannot shake off in the United States. The Middle East crisis and Iran’s oil ties with China have landed right on the agenda of the summit, making life difficult for Trump as he tries to negotiate trade and technology.
China purchases the majority of the sanctioned Iranian oil sold to the US. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, traveled to Beijing in an effort to get China to take a more active stance when dealing with Iran and pushing them out of their current posture in the region. President Donald Trump made public statements stating that the US does not require Beijing’s assistance with Iran.
Taiwan, Rare Earth Metals and AI Competition
The topics raised between Trump and Xi Jinping at the Beijing summit relate to aspects that will shape the course of technological competition throughout the world in the next decade. Trump signaled his intention to discuss increasing weapons sales to Taiwan with Xi, which marks a break from the US stance of not seeking Chinese approval for military assistance to Taiwan.
Restrictions on the export of rare earths from China, the escalating contest of artificial intelligence technologies among both nations, and the larger context of their technology contest are topics to be discussed at the Trump-Xi Beijing summit, which makes this two-day encounter one of the most important among their bilateral interactions in today’s geopolitical age.
