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Those who are dismissing the Trump visit to Beijing as symbolic, without any special substance in terms of outcomes, are missing the woods for the trees. Looked at closely, however, the visit marks the beginning of yet another reset in the US-China relations and its results will unfold over the next couple of months and years.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

Most media reports suggest that Trump left with little to show for his talks with Xi, but its importance is in setting the stage for a shift in US-China ties towards a less confrontationist future, a not inconsiderable achievement in this period of high geopolitical tension.

Given the decade-long contention between China and the US, Beijing was clear from the outset that it was seeking a strategic shift, rather than some immediate transaction. It also wanted to show that it was now dealing with the US as a near peer, confident of defending its interests.

In Beijing, the US and China approached the summit from two, not necessarily opposing directions. In keeping with his style Trump looked to promote American investment and exports to China.

To this end he lined up the top bosses of the US high-tech and finance world—Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Elon Musk, Tim Cook of Apple, Christiano Amon of Qualcomm, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron, Larry Fink of Blackrock, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone.

The substantive portion, as reflected in US and PRC readouts, revealed the issues each side sought to highlight. Read side-by-side the two readouts almost described two different meetings. But neither side has contradicted the other’s characterisation.

Key points in the US included: Chinese investment in the US; fentanyl; shared understanding on Strait of Hormuz; joint opposition to Iran possessing nuclear weapon; and PRC purchases of US oil to reduce dependence on Strait.

Key points in PRC readout included: Geopolitical framing around transformations in the international system; principles surrounding the establishment of US-PRC “constructive strategic stability;” bilateral communications channels; and a stark warning on Taiwan.

In the last ten years, the US and China have been involved in a complex duel whose result led to Trump’s Beijing visit. It began with Trump blowing up the old paradigm of the US-China relationship based on the concept of engagement, if not friendship.

Trump declared that China was now a strategic competitor and in line with this he imposed 25% tariffs on Chinese imports. The US blacklisted Huawei and tightened export controls on emerging technologies to prevent them from reaching........

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