Trump and Xi stroll through ‘Heaven’ amid Taiwan threats

It was the ideal photo op. US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping strolled through the Temple of Heaven in Beijing today after more than two hours of talks in the Great Hall of the People. But as they say, the devil is in the detail of those discussions.

They were cheered by rows of primary school children waving Chinese and American flags. It was the sort of heavily choreographed clip you would expect from the ruling Communist Party’s massive propaganda machine.

Trump reacted with his usual trademark superlatives. “It’s great … Great place, incredible … China is beautiful,” he gushed. Xi just smiled after earlier ratcheting up the pressure on Taiwan with yet another blunt warning during summit discussions.

He stressed that the “most important issue” in Beijing’s relationship with Washington was the fate of the island democracy. The point was emphasized by Mao Ning, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement covering Xi’s comments at the talks.

Her post on X read, “If it is handled properly, the relationship will enjoy stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the relationship in jeopardy.” Taiwan is considered a renegade province by China, which has threatened to take it by force.

Tensions between Taipei and Beijing remain dangerously high. “China’s military threat is the sole source of insecurity in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region,” Michelle Lee, a Taiwanese cabinet spokesperson, told the media after Xi’s comments.

[Xi is] warning the US in no uncertain terms not to screw around.

Joe Mazur, Trivium China

Taiwan Question:

• There is no surprise that Xi has made the fate of the island his priority. It is just 100 miles from the mainland and comes after Washington’s US$14 billion defense deal.
• “[He is] warning the US in no uncertain terms not to screw around,” Joe Mazur, a geopolitics analyst at consultancy Trivium China, said, according to Reuters.

Delve deeper: Still, there was no mention of Taiwan in the White House readout on today’s exchanges. Instead, “economic cooperation” was the headline takeaway, “including expanding market access for American businesses into China.”

Between the lines: The Iran war was another critical topic. “The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy … Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” a White House official said.

Big picture: Perhaps Zongyuan Zoe Liu, of the Council on Foreign Relations, captured the mood of the talks before they had even taken place. “The summit may stabilize atmospherics. Whether it stabilizes the relationship itself is a much harder question,” she wrote.

China Factor comment: Maybe that was illustrated in Xi’s pledge that “China’s door to the outside world will only open wider.” He has trotted out that threadbare line for the past decade. Yet that door has barely moved. Again, the devil is in the detail.