U.S. President Trump received Chinese President Xi Jinping with grand courtesy this week, temporarily easing tensions between the U.S. and China in recent years. The New York Times analyzed that Xi Jinping used friendly gestures and carefully crafted words to try to influence Trump's views on Taiwan, Japan and the United States in the Asian security order. He does not expect a breakthrough at a single summit, but rather uses frequent meetings to "test" the U.S. position and find room for policy influence. Former US deputy national security adviser Boming pointed out that Xi Jinping saw this as an opportunity to detect the weaknesses of the United States.
State banquet shows that the United States is still wary of Chinese investment
Bloomberg believes that harmonious interaction does not mean that policy has changed. Mitte, a scholar on U.S.-China relations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, said that the two sides may be at the "moment of greatest relaxation," but the substantive policies have not yet changed. In terms of trade, China has not confirmed the extension of the truce announced by the United States. U.S. Trade Representative Greer said that more details will be announced as soon as the 28th. The technological and economic and trade restrictions between the United States and China have not disappeared due to the improvement in the atmosphere of the summit. The seating arrangement of the state banquet highlights this point: Xi Jinping and Huang Renxun, CEO of Huida, sit at the same table. However, China is still unable to purchase the most advanced artificial intelligence chips, and no senior Chinese company executives were seen at the banquet, which shows that the United States is still wary of investment by Chinese companies.
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Georgetown University professor McElwen pointed out that the summit created an image of China and the United States as equals and brought political and propaganda benefits to Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping also took the opportunity to influence the US-Japan alliance, mentioning the history of World War II and reminding Trump that the United States and China had jointly fought against Japan. This was seen as part of Beijing's attempt to reshape Japan's military role and distance itself from Washington and Tokyo.
U.S. midterm election results may affect China policy
However, Bloomberg emphasized that there are still limits to the U.S.-China relationship. Domestic political changes in the United States may affect Trump's subsequent policies. If the midterm elections change the power map of Congress, there may be calls for tougher measures against China, including strengthening export controls and restricting Chinese companies. However, political rivalry could also create gridlock in Congress, which in turn limits the United States' ability to pressure Beijing.
Bloomberg believes that at the economic and trade level, rare earth supply is still an important bargaining chip held by China. Bloomberg analyst Farrar pointed out that most regions around the world will still rely on China to provide rare earth magnets until 2030 or even longer, which means that if the United States escalates economic and trade confrontation, its options will still be limited.
