The US-China Summit in Beijing from May 13 to 15 would be a landmark one for the bilateral ties between the two nations as well as for global geopolitics because of the simple reason that it proved the unequivocal rise of China to a point where it stood together on an equal footing with the US.
Caught up in a messy episode in Iran that is in a stalemate now and rising domestic unpopularity at home, President Donald Trump flew to Beijing with the hope of a proactive Chinese involvement in Iran to resolve the impasse. That did not happen. The Beijing Summit elevated China’s standing and brought it to the same level as the US.
China did not budge on its position on Iran and instead reiterated its position, pointing out to President Xi Jinping’s four point plan for West Asia that called for peaceful co-existence, politically negotiated settlements, shared security and development driven cooperation.
To the US discomfiture, the China’s foreign ministry spoke of the Iran war “which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”
While Trump came to Beijing with the idea of coaxing China to come down heavily on Iran’s nuclear programme, the latter stuck to its guns. The respective statements issued are a study in contrast.
While the White House said that “both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” Beijing was more circumspect. The Chinese statement said: “It is important to steady the momentum in easing the situation, keep to the direction of political settlement, engage in dialogue and consultation, and reach a settlement on the Iranian nuclear issue and other issues that accommodates the concerns of all parties.”
En route to Beijing, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said the US hoped to convince China to play a more active role on Iran which was in direct variance with Trump’s statement that he “did not believe he needed Xi’s help on Iran”. But later, Trump told reporters that he planned to have a “long talk” with Xi on Iran.
Pointing out Taiwan’s “non-negotiability”, President Xi also issued a warning note to the US when he said that the US and China “will have clashes and even conflicts” if the long-standing issue of Taiwan’s independence is mishandled and that could put the US-China relationship “in great jeopardy”.
Before leaving for China, Trump had said he would take up the issue of weapons sales to Taiwan. Therefore, seemingly that did not happen and only ended with Xi’s admonishment.
Nor did trade talks end of a positive note with the big-ticket Boeing deal considerably weakened down resulting in a tumbling of Boeing’s shares. While the US expected an order of about 500 Boeing aircraft from China, only 200 were ordered—far less than what Trump expected.