Trump and Xi are meeting in Beijing to try to reset US-China relations at a moment of growing instability. Oriana Skylar Mastro breaks down China’s ambitions and what could come next.
"It provides China with an opportunity to frame itself as a source of prosperity and stability—in contrast to the United States," says Council Distinguished Nonresident Fellow Evan Medeiros.
"The United States needs China to some extent more than China needs us," Council Marshall M. Bouton Senior Fellow for Asia Studies Raymond Kuo tells WGN's The Point.
The Beijing meeting gives the United States an opportunity to push back on a Chinese narrative that worsens the bargaining positions of both Washington and Taipei.
"Beijing is not looking for an opportunity or an excuse to attack Taiwan. On the contrary, it is still looking to Washington and Tokyo for reasons not to do so," Council Senior Nonresident Fellow Paul Heer writes for The National Interest.
The Iran war’s ripple effects risk obscuring festering divisions within the Southeast Asian bloc—most notably its inability to develop a region-wide approach to Washington and Beijing.
"Given deepening coordination among adversaries, increased cooperation among US partners is a positive development," the Council's Ariane Tabatabai writes for War on the Rocks.
