One key takeaway from Trump’s China visit should worry Australia

May 19, 2026 — 3:00am

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In the world’s most important power equation, China on the weekend advanced further at America’s expense.

US President Donald Trump went to Beijing in a weakened state. China’s President Xi Jinping took advantage. That’s the verdict of one of America’s most experienced Asia policy experts, Kurt Campbell.

It’s hard to disagree. “This is not the circumstance President Trump hoped for when visiting China,” Campbell tells me. “He’s clearly stuck in a quagmire in Iran.”

If Trump hoped for any help from Xi in dealing with Iran, he was disappointed. Beijing, a friend of Iran’s, surreptitiously has been helping it in targeting US forces with missiles and drones.

Trump seemed desperate for a trade deal in Beijing. Xi agreed to buy a figurative handful of beans and Boeings from the US. In return, the US president broke historical precedent to hand over to the Chinese Communist Party concessions on the only subject Xi really cared about – the security of Taiwan.

Xi was strident in dictating China’s red line to Trump. In his opening remarks, Taiwan, he said, was the “most important” issue in dealing with the US, according to the party-owned news service Xinhua.

“If handled poorly, the two countries will face collision or even conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into an extremely dangerous situation.” Washington needed to treat the Taiwan issue, he said, with “the utmost caution”.

And what did the US president have to say about this? When reporters asked for his account, he said he’d “heard him out” but “didn’t make a comment” in reply. But, in various remarks over the........

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