Trump and Xi’s initial meeting reveals dueling priorities

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping brought dueling priorities to their high-stakes summit in Beijing, with Xi pressing Trump on Taiwan, while Trump’s focused on trade, business and farmers.

Trump showed up with nearly 20 top executives from companies like Tesla and SpaceX, Nvidia, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Boeing and GE Aerospace, among others. He told Xi that “they look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf.”

But Xi made it known that the U.S. and China would clash over Taiwan if the issue is not worked out. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning wrote on X that Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.” 

“If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” she wrote.

The leaders met for roughly two hours at a bilateral meeting Thursday morning local time at the Great Hall of the People. They are scheduled to meet again on Friday local time.

Their opening remarks quickly painted an image of differing concerns. As Trump focused on the friendship between China and the U.S., Xi pointed to the weight of the meeting, noting that the “whole world is watching” and questioning if the nations could overcome the “Thucydides Trap,” a theory that suggests that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, a war could result.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said later that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan forcefully.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio said in an interview with NBC News.

China has long viewed the island as its own territory. The U.S. has not........

© The Hill