TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Friday, bringing with him the seeds of discord from Beijing despite assertions to the contrary.
Xi Jinping’s promise to provide Chinese rose seeds for the White House Rose Garden, which was supposed to be a diplomatic bouquet, instead highlighted the increasingly prickly relationship between the world’s two largest powers after their 36-hour summit was dominated not by trade or tariffs, but by the explosive issue of Taiwan.Although Trump declared his visit to Beijing a “tremendous success” and a “historic moment,” in brief comments to reporters (in contrast to his typically verbal engagement), the US foreign policy establishment concluded that the summit revealed a shifting balance of power as Taiwan became the main fault line in US-China relations. On the podcast, Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director, said bluntly that Trump was “handed over to him” in Beijing, and Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador who as a young diplomat served as a translator for Richard Nixon during his successful visit to China, said Americans were underestimating Beijing’s growing influence and shifting power. It now emerges that what began as a visit ostensibly focused on trade, Iran and economic stability quickly developed into intense negotiations on Taiwan, with Xi warning Trump that mishandling the “Taiwan question” could jeopardize “the entire relationship” between Beijing and Washington.
Trump returned home after the summit and appeared noticeably more ambiguous than many Taiwan supporters in Washington had expected. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he repeatedly refused to say whether the United States would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack. In an interview on Fox News, he was more clear about his reluctance to be drawn into a conflict over the island.“I will say this: I am not looking for someone to become independent,” Trump said, referring to Taiwan.
“And you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that. I want them to calm down. I want China to calm down.”The comments have raised alarm among Taiwanese hawks in both parties who fear that Trump is moving away from Washington’s longstanding position of “strategic ambiguity” toward what some critics have called strategic capitulation. The US president also revealed that he discussed arms sales to Taiwan “in great detail” with Xi and refused to commit to a pending $14 billion arms package for Taipei.
Critics said that even discussing potential arms transfers to Taiwan with Beijing risked undermining one of President Reagan’s “six guarantees” to Taiwan, which promised Washington not to consult China on such matters.The summit also underscored why Taiwan has become central to global geopolitics. The island dominates the advanced semiconductor industry, producing many of the world’s most advanced chips essential for artificial intelligence, military systems and global technology supply chains.
Trump himself has highlighted the issue, urging Taiwanese companies to manufacture chips in America. Meanwhile, Xi appears to be using the summit to reinforce Beijing’s long-standing position that Taiwan represents China’s ultimate red line while denouncing the US offer to sell NVidia H-200 chips. American analysts from across the ideological spectrum described an American president who seemed eager to achieve accomplishments while Xi calmly dictated terms.Ultimately, the summit scenes reinforced perceptions in Washington that China now had the stronger hand. However, Trump insisted that he had achieved major trade victories. “We’ve made great deals. We’ve made great trade deals,” he declared, even as doubts about the trip’s gains mounted in Washington, where spokesmen outside the MAGAsphere seemed to take Beijing and Tehran at their word more than they did from the White House.
Trump claimed that China would order 200 Boeing aircraft, with purchases eventually reaching 750 aircraft. However, Beijing has not issued any official confirmation, and Boeing shares fell sharply because investors expected a much larger immediate order exceeding 500 aircraft. Likewise, Trump’s assertions that China would buy massive amounts of American soybeans, corn, and agricultural products were similarly ambiguous. Analysts noted that there were few details, no signed agreements, and no detailed framework on customs tariffs.
Strikingly, Trump admitted that tariffs “did not come up” in his talks with Xi even though trade tensions were central to the visit.Trump also appeared unable to secure Chinese cooperation on Iran or obtain concessions on behalf of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai. During the 2024 campaign, Trump bragged that securing Lay’s release would be “easy,” in the same spirit in which he claimed he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on day one.
In a rare admission of failure, Trump admitted: “I brought up Jimmy Lai (with Xi). I would say the response to that was not positive.”Even the final image of the trip reflected the deep distrust underlying the diplomatic resolve. As the US delegation boarded Air Force One, White House security personnel reportedly disposed of Chinese phones, souvenirs, pins and memorabilia in trash bins next to the plane’s stairs amid fears of espionage.
