US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing today, where he will primarily discuss trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as the perennial issue of Taiwan, while he himself said that the war in Iran will not be the main topic.
The formal part of the summit is tomorrow: a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Xi and a large banquet.
The Chinese gave Trump a grand welcome today, literally rolling out the red carpet in front of the presidential plane, Air Force One, at Beijing airport.
The welcoming ceremony was attended by 300 young Chinese men, as well as a military honor guard and a military band. According to the White House announcement, the president was welcomed by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng, Executive Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, and US Ambassador to Beijing David Perdue.
"We are two superpowers. We are militarily the most powerful country on Earth. China is considered the second," Trump told reporters on Tuesday, ahead of the trip.
Although Trump likes to project a sense of strength, the visit comes at a delicate moment for his presidency, as his popularity at home is weighed down by the US-Israeli war with Iran and the rising inflation resulting from that conflict.
The Republican president is seeking victory by signing a deal with China to buy more American soybeans, beef and aircraft, and has said he will talk about trade with Xi "more than anything else."
The Trump administration hopes to begin the process of establishing a trade board with China to smooth over the disputes. The board could help prevent a trade war like the one that erupted last year over Trump's tariff hikes, which China countered with control over rare earths, leading to a year-long truce in October.
But Trump is visiting Beijing as Iran continues to dominate his agenda in the United States. The war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, blocked oil and natural gas tankers and sent fuel prices soaring to levels that could threaten global economic growth. The US president has said there was no need for Xi to help resolve the war, although Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Beijing last week.
"We have a lot of things to talk about. To be honest, I wouldn't say Iran is one of them, because Iran is under our firm control," Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
The status of Taiwan will also be a major topic, as China is unhappy with US plans to sell arms to the self-ruled island, which the Chinese government considers part of its territory.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he would discuss with Xi an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, which the US administration approved in December but has not yet begun to implement. The arms package is the largest ever approved for Taiwan.
But the US leader has shown greater ambivalence towards Taiwan, an approach that raises questions about whether Trump might be open to reducing support for the island republic.
Taiwan, the world's leading chipmaker, has become essential for the development of artificial intelligence, with the US importing more goods from Taiwan than from China this year. Trump has tried to use Biden-era programs and his own agreements to bring more chip manufacturing to America.
The People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper, published a strongly worded editorial ahead of Trump's arrival, stressing that Taiwan is "the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations" and that it is the "biggest risk point" between the two countries.
Trump has been portraying his trip as a success in advance. He has openly mused about Xi's planned return visit to the United States this year, complaining that the White House ballroom under construction will not be finished in time for a celebration in his honor.
"We will have a great relationship for many, many decades to come," Trump said of the US and China.
Trump brought a large group of his aides, family members and business titans, including Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX.
While en route to Beijing, he announced on social media that his “first request” to Xi during the visit would be to ask him to increase the presence of American companies in China.
“I will ask President Xi, a leader of extraordinary stature, to ‘open up’ China so these brilliant people can work their magic and help take the People’s Republic to even greater heights!” Trump wrote.
Despite Trump's expression of confidence, China appears to be entering the meeting with him from a "much stronger position," said Scott Kennedy, a senior advisor on Chinese business and economics at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China would like, among other things, to reduce US technological restrictions on access to computer chips and find ways to reduce US tariffs.
“But even if they don’t accomplish much on any of those things, China basically comes out stronger until there’s an explosion at the meeting and President Trump goes and tries to escalate the situation again,” Kennedy said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng discussed economic and trade issues today at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, South Korea, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.
Trump, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters before the trip, intends to raise the idea of signing a pact between the US, China and Russia that would place limits on their nuclear weapons.
China has previously been lukewarm about such a pact. Beijing's arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds 600 operational nuclear warheads and is far from parity with the US and Russia, which are each estimated to have more than 5.000 nuclear warheads.
The last nuclear arms treaty – the Russia-United States New START agreement, expired in February, lifting all restrictions on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than half a century.
When the agreement was due to expire, Trump rejected Russia's call to extend it for another year and sought a "new, improved and modernized" agreement that would include China.
The Pentagon estimates that China, in addition to its current more than 600 operational nuclear warheads, will have more than 1.000 by 2030.
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