U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on May 14. [AFP/YONHAP]
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed that Iran “can never acquire a nuclear weapon” and that the Strait of Hormuz should remain freely accessible to global oil shipping, according to the White House after the two leaders’ summit in Beijing on Thursday.
“President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the strait in the future,” the White House said in its readout of the 135-minute meeting between the two leaders.
The strait has emerged as a sticking point in on-and-off talks between Washington and Tehran, with Iran saying it plans to charge ships to pass through the strategic waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. Korea imports 70 percent of its crude oil through the strait.
Although Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Trump and Xi also discussed tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and the war in Ukraine, it provided few concrete details on what the two leaders said regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile weapons programs.
The muted treatment of North Korea suggested the issue may have slipped down the agenda as Washington and Beijing grapple with more immediate issues.
While the White House readout detailed Trump and Xi’s talks on Iran, the Chinese summary focused on Taiwan, an issue that the U.S. side omitted.
The summit ended with little more than a verbal understanding between the two sides to contain tensions and stabilize relations.
In his opening remarks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi framed the U.S.-China relationship through the lens of the so-called Thucydides trap, a theory that war becomes more likely when a rising power challenges an established one.
“Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm of relations between major powers?” Xi said, adding, “This is a question posed by history, by the world and by the people — and one that you and I must answer.”
Xi also said Washington and Beijing “should be partners rather than rivals, achieve common prosperity together, and jointly chart the right course for major-power relations in the new era.”
A child holds U.S. and Chinese flags before the welcome ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. [AP/YONHAP]
The remarks appeared aimed at lowering the intensity of U.S. strategic pressure on China, which has escalated in recent years with trade restrictions in semiconductors and other technologies.
Trump, by contrast, emphasized personal rapport and economic pragmatism.
“Whenever we had a problem, we worked that out very quickly, and we’re going to have a fantastic future together,” Trump said as he called Xi “a great leader.”
Referring to the U.S. business executives accompanying him — which included Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX and Larry Fink of BlackRock — Trump said, “They look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf.”
Xi further proposed what he called a “constructive and strategically stable China-U.S. relationship,” describing it as one “based on cooperation, with competition managed within proper bounds, differences kept under control, and lasting peace maintained.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and U.S. business representatives at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. [AP/YONHAP]
In response, Trump said, “I want to strengthen communication and cooperation with President Xi, solve our differences, and open up the greatest relationship between the United States and China in history.”
By describing the United States and China as “the world’s most important and powerful countries,” Trump is likely to raise eyebrows in Washington, where the concept of a condominium between the two powers has largely fallen out of favor amid intensifying strategic rivalry.
However, the two sides did find some common ground on economic and trade issues, with Xi saying the two countries’ economic and trade teams had produced “generally balanced and positive outcomes” in talks the previous day.
The leaders also agreed to cooperate in hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting in China in November and the Group of 20 Summit in the United States in December.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attends a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other U.S. business leaders in Beijing on May 14. [AP/YONHAP]
But on most sensitive issues, the summit appeared to produce little concrete progress.
Noticeably absent in both sides’ summaries were any commitments by Xi to use Beijing’s leverage over Tehran to help Trump pressure Iran over its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
It remained unclear whether Xi sought to use China’s potential role in the U.S.-Iran standoff as leverage in broader negotiations, but he also appeared to leave the summit without major concessions from Trump.
The issue of Taiwan — perhaps the most combustible flashpoint in the bilateral relations — also remained unresolved.
Xi, who called Taiwan the “most important” issue in U.S.-China relations, warned that mistakes involving the island could trigger direct confrontation between the two countries, according to Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, walks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony prior to their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. [XINHUA/YONHAP]
“If this issue is handled properly, the overall relationship can remain stable. If handled improperly, the two countries could clash or even come into conflict, pushing China-U.S. relations into a highly dangerous situation,” Xi said.
Although both Taipei and Beijing previously claimed to represent China during the Cold War, the government of Taiwan has shifted its stance since the 1990s and no longer actively calls for reunification with the mainland.
However, Beijing continues to claim the self-governing island is a renegade Chinese province and has repeatedly warned Washington and Taipei that it would not rule out the use of force if the Taiwanese government declares independence.
China has also mounted increasingly large-scale military exercises in the waters surrounding the island in recent years.
Despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, the United States maintains unofficial relations with the island through the Taiwan Relations Act, which authorizes Washington to sell arms to Taipei.
While Xi had previously cautioned Trump in a February phone call to approach arms sales to Taiwan carefully, his unusually blunt use of terms such as “conflict” and “danger” in face-to-face talks signaled a renewed effort to underscore the Taiwan issue as a red line for Beijing.
Although Xinhua included the Korean Peninsula among the issues discussed, it provided no details — a contrast with the leaders’ 2017 summit in Beijing, when both reaffirmed their commitment to North Korean denuclearization despite limited tangible progress.
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