Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-12
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Barthélémy Courmont, Director of the master’s program in History — International Relations, Catholic Institute of Lille (ICL)
The context of this bilateral summit is hardly favorable to Donald Trump: his operation in Iran is bogged down, the Supreme Court has just dealt him a blow on his tariff policy, and his popularity is low a few months before crucial midterm elections. Enough, perhaps, to encourage him to initiate with his Chinese counterpart one of those big deals he is known for?
Delayed due to war in the Middle East, the official visit of Donald Trump to Beijing and his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping take place on May 14 and 15.
Since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, the two men have had only one bilateral meeting, inmargin of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea, last October. Trade issues, dear to the American president, were then at the heart of tense exchanges reflecting the large-scale competition between the two countries, as had already been the case during the first Trump administration.
This issue remains crucial in the Washington-Beijing relationship; but other subjects of discord are now added.
Washington on multiple fronts
However, the context has changed considerably over the past few months. Venezuela, Greenland, Iran: in the field of foreign policy, Washington has engaged since the beginning of the year in adventurism that worries Beijing, especially since China seems to be directly targeted, notably through the war against Iran, which has an immediate impact on Tehran’s oil exports, of which the PRC is the main recipient. Moreover,all the crisesin which Washington has been involved since Januaryare justified by a desire to harm Beijing.
From then on, Xi Jinping is expected, on May 14 and 15, to express his concern about the current geopolitical instabilities, and to invite his American counterpart to prioritize restraint and a multilateral approach advocated by the United Nations, to the point of positioning himself as a kind of peacemaker – taking advantage of the vacancy in this regard.leadershipAmerican in its role as the “world’s policeman.” It is moreover within this logic that Beijing plays an important role in the mediation that Pakistan is striving to establish on the Iranian issue and that theRPC strongly supports.
Xi is also expected to address the issue ofsanctions targeting Chinese companies accused by Washington of maintaining activities with Tehran, which reflect the missteps of the American stance on the Middle East conflict, oscillating between soothing rhetoric and threats.
Moreover, unlike the situation that prevailed during the Busan meeting, China is now in a position of strength in the trade war opposing Washington, with the Supreme Court and a federal court having recentlyputs the Trump administration in difficulty over its customs policy. All this takes place in a political context marked by Trump’s imperative to score points in anticipation of the upcoming November midterm elections, which promise to bevery difficult for his side.
Finally, among the other fronts on which Trump wishes to attack China are therare earthsand the technological challenges, as the PRC seems on the verge of catching up with the United States, notablyin the field of artificial intelligence. The competition between the two countries is now multidimensional, and by opening several fronts simultaneously, the American president makes it uncertain.
China facing the West
Beyond resolving the conflict in the Middle East, China likes to see itself as a balancing power, emphasizing its rejection of unilateralism and theneed to revive multilateralism embodied by the United Nations. Behind this slogan is the catch-up with the West at the heart of China’s grand strategy, expressed through a discourse shared by Moscow and, to some extent, New Delhi, affirming the decline of the West.
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But China remains discreet, partly because it is in its diplomatic culture (it is worth recalling that Deng Xiaoping, the country’s leader from 1978 to 1989 and still very influential in the 1990s, believed that the PRC should stay in the background on the international stage), and especially because it has no interest in exposing itself, letting its main rival, Washington, get bogged down in endless wars that further tarnish its image and credibility. Reflecting Xi Jinping’s thinking, the magazineThe Economistthus made its front page of April 4 with a photo showing the two men and this mocking title: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
This discourse on the decline of the West is primarily addressed to the Chinese population, in the context of accompanying the“Chinese dream”dear Xi Jinping, in order to reinforce the idea that the return of Chinese power is underway, and that the regime is the main guarantor of it. This is an important issue when we know that the rise in power of the PRC is facing many difficulties (slowdown of growth,demographic crisis,environmental issues,corruption…), and that the criticisms, even timid and often silenced, are not lacking.
ButIt is also the Global South that Beijing is targeting, in a rhetoric that invites a gradual replacement ofleadershipof a West presented as decadent towards a “new world” embodied by the BRICS and with Beijing at its summit. The multilateralism promoted by the PRC could thus be a transitional phase towards a new world order.
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One must above all not underestimate the significance of this discourse in the Western world, which Donald Trump’s foreign policy and the multiple hesitations of the European Union only reinforce. This is notably seen in numerous studies reporting aregain de confiance à l’égard de la Chine dans le Sud global, Beijing simply being seen as more responsible than the West and less likely than the latter to implement “double standards” towards third countries.
Trump and Washington’s Chinese obsession
Donald Trump made the relationship with China the main issue of his foreign policy. In this, he follows the continuity of his predecessors, who, both Republicans and Democrats, have all shown a Chinese obsession for a quarter of a century. Of“The “disengagement” of Bush Jr. toObama’s “pivot”, including the development of partnerships with countries in the Indo-Pacific region, trade wars, the insistence onThucydides TrapWhere pressures on the issue of human rights were concerned, the method sometimes differed, but the objective remained the same: to prevent China from becoming the world’s leading power.
From Venezuela to Iran, it is clear that the current American president’s strategy is to indirectly target Beijing and its supplies, particularly by attacking its partners, in the hope of forcing his rival into new trade agreements. But this strategy does not work, and beyond fine promises, Donald Trump will return from Beijing empty-handed if he thinks he can force the Chinese president into any concessions, especially at a time when the United States sees its influence and credibility considerably undermined.
There remains a scenario, which seems more feasible than ever as it would be to Beijing’s advantage and corresponds to the strategy of the “deal” of Donald Trump: the great bargaining (great bargain). In order to preserve increasingly threatened gains in the Asia-Pacific, the United States might find a comprehensive agreement with China on some kind of regional sharing. Long considered taboo in Washington, this bargaining could be viewed by the White House occupant as a win-win deal. Problem: what would be the dividing lines, from the Korean Peninsula to Southeast Asia, via Taiwan?
More than ever, Washington’s partners in the Asia-Pacificfollow closely and anxiouslythe stances of an American president who has made unpredictability the hallmark of his term.
This text was supported by the Taiwan Fellowship 2026 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Republic of China (Taiwan).
–ref. The stakes of the Donald Trump – Xi Jinping meeting in Beijing –https://theconversation.com/the-stakes-of-the-donald-trump-xi-jinping-meeting-in-beijing-282737