Trump leaves China without breakthroughs on Iran, Taiwan or AI

Donald Trump left China on Friday after a much-hyped summit of the world’s two major powers that was rich in pageantry. promises of stability, but offered little by way of tangible progress.

The US president had gone into the two-day talks with China’s Xi Jinping weakened by his prolonged war in Iran,. did little to change the perception that he and his nation are diminished on the global stage.

Instead it was Xi who delivered the sharpest rhetoric of the meeting – over the future status of the self-governing island of Taiwan. with Trump notably failing to push back.

In his final remarks in Beijing on Friday, Trump did claim that the US. China struck “fantastic trade deals”, although details were scarce, and that he and Xi settled “a lot of different problems”.

But critics are likely to suggest that the carefully choreographed summit – attended by tech executives including Elon Musk of Tesla. Tim Cook of Apple, as well as Trump’s son, Eric – was more performative than substantive, with no major breakthrough on Iran, Taiwan or the countries’ AI arms race.

Instead, as he departed, Trump posted on his Truth Social network: “China has a Ballroom,. so should the U.S.A.!” – a reference to his long-running campaign to build a $400m ballroom at the White House.

But he will return to Washington to find that the war in Iran still poses a major political headache. There is much speculation about how much pressure the US is putting on China. the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to use its leverage with Iran to encourage the country to reopen the strait of Hormuz. And there is a question mark over whether or not Beijing would be willing to accede to that pressure.

Speaking alongside Xi at the Zhongnanhai garden in Beijing on Friday, Trump said: “We did discuss Iran. We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open.”

He added: “We want them [Iran] to get it ended because it’s a crazy thing there, a little bit crazy. And it’s no good, it can’t happen.”

The White House readout of the more than two hours of talks between Trump. Xi on Thursday said the leaders “agreed that the strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy” and that “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarisation of the strait”.

Later on Friday, Trump said he is considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil. He told Fox News that Xi assured him China will not supply Iran with military equipment, adding: “But at the same time he said they buy a lot of their oil there,. they’d like to keep doing that. He’d like to see Hormuz strait opened … I said, well, we didn’t stop it. They did it.”

China’s foreign ministry on Friday again called for a ceasefire in Iran. said the strait of Hormuz should be opened “as soon as possible”.

About half of China’s crude oil passes through the waterway,. the bigger threat for the Chinese economy is if the conflict in the Middle East causes a global recession that dents demand for its exports.

But many in Beijing feel that the crisis in Iran is not China’s responsibility.

Zhou Bo, a retired senior army colonel. a senior fellow in the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said: “On Iran, China definitely wants to help but I read what Rubio said: he actually seems to shift the burden to the Chinese side. In China, we have a saying: it is like, ‘Why should I clean your shit?’”

Meanwhile. Beijing made it clear that Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as part of its territory, was a top priority during this week’s meeting. Xi warned Trump that their countries could have “clashes. even conflicts” if Taiwan was not handled properly, calling it the most important issue in US-China relations.

On Friday Trump insisted that “nothing’s changed” about the US policy on Taiwan. while admitting that he may not approve a major arms sale for the self-governing island. Speaking to Fox News on the flight back to the US. the president said he made no commitment regarding the island, adding: “I don’t think there’s a conflict on Taiwan.”

Xi sees unifying Taiwan with China as a core part of his legacy. has not ruled out the use of force to achieve that goal. Top of Beijing’s wishlist regarding Taiwan is for the US to stop supplying the island with defensive weaponry.

Trump said on Air Force One he has not determined whether to move forward on major arms package for Taiwan. is planned for this year.

Last year, the US approved a record $11bn arms package for Taiwan, sparking outrage in Beijing. There are plans for another package worth $14bn to be passed this year,. the White House reportedly stalled the plans ahead of Trump’s trip to Beijing.

Trump was making the first US presidential visit to China in nearly a decade. revelled in the hospitality, including an immaculate arrival ceremony, tour of Temple of Heaven and lavish state banquet in the Great Hall of the People, where Xi told Trump that China’s “great rejuvenation” could go “hand in hand” with “Make America great again”.

Meeting for a working tea. lunch in the Zhongnanhai garden on Friday, Trump admired the roses, and said that Xi had promised to send him some seeds for the White House rose garden.

“This has been an incredible visit,” he said as the men sat together in an opulent wood-panelled room with a huge golden carpet. “I think a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals – great for both countries … we’ve really done some wonderful things, I believe.”

Trump added: “We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve.”

He claimed that China agreed to buy US oil, soybeans. 200 Boeing jets, with a potential commitment to purchase up to 750 planes, although Chinese officials did not confirm this. But on many key issues, there seems to have been little by way of concrete agreement.

There was scant mention of human rights on the trip. although Trump told Fox News on the flight back from Beijing that Xi said he was “seriously considering” releasing jailed pastors in China. That would probably include Ezra Jin, a pastor who was arrested last year amid a sweeping crackdown on Christians. But Trump said that the case of Jimmy Lai, a democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong, was a “tough one”.

Julian Gewirtz, a former director for China on the national security council during the Biden administration, said the new Chinese formulation about US-China relations was about “locking in this current phase of strategic stalemate for the remainder of Trump’s term. ideally beyond”.

“Xi Jinping has been working for years to be ready for this moment. to bring an American president to Beijing as a peer, widely acknowledged as such around the world. And now it is happening,” Gerwirtz said.

Wu Xinbo, a professor of international studies at Fudan University. a Chinese government adviser, said the balance of power between the US and China was “shifting towards greater parity”.

“In the past, it always seemed as though the United States held the upper hand, constantly exerting pressure on China. taking the offensive. Now, however, it’s fair to say that the two countries have reached a new point of equilibrium,” Wu said.

At a busy intersection near Trump’s hotel. the crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade were thinner on Friday morning than on Thursday evening, with the heavy police presence encouraging people not to loiter. Many grumbled about the inconvenience caused by the repeated road closures.

Asked for their views on Trump, the word that came up again and again from Beijingers was “unpredictable”.

“What he says isn’t necessarily what it means,” said one Trump-watcher, who declined to give his name.

Additional research by Yu-chen Li