Trump arrives in China for high-stakes talks on trade, Taiwan and Iran war

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump is in Beijing tonight for a state visit to America's chief global competitor and increasingly its chief geopolitical rival.

Amna Nawaz:

Mr. Trump has long targeted China as an economic foe of the U.S., while cultivating a relationship with its president, Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

As Nick Schifrin reports from Beijing, a host of global issues are on the table.

Nick Schifrin:

Tonight, for the first time in nearly a decade, an American president landed in China onto a red carpet and into a synchronized ceremony by a country seeking stability.

But President Trump also arrived to China confident and hosting an embattled American president at war with a Chinese ally. Iran survived five weeks of war and now maintains a choke hold over the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas usually flows.

To help open the strait and make a diplomatic deal, a senior U.S. official says that President Trump will -- quote -- "pressure Xi Jinping" to exert his influence over Iran. Beijing hosted Iran's foreign minister just last week and buys 90 percent of Iran's oil.

But a separate senior U.S. official told "PBS News Hour" it's unlikely that Xi Jinping will use leverage over Iran, a point shared by President Biden's assistant secretary of defense for Asia, Ely Ratner.

Ely Ratner, The Marathon Initiative:

Even though China does have major stakes, it's going to maintain an arm's-length distance, so not to get sucked in to the crisis itself.

Nick Schifrin:

China could benefit from the U.S. fighting a Middle East war with no obvious end. But China's also the world's largest consumer of oil transported through the strait.

Ely Ratner:

It's certainly to China's benefit to see the United States stuck in yet another quagmire in the Middle East, losing diplomatic strength and using up military power on the other side of the world. But the fact is that the energy crisis and the economic crisis emerging from the Strait of Hormuz has major implications for China.

Nick Schifrin:

Taiwan holds even greater implications. The Trump administration recently authorized the largest weapons sale ever to Taiwan and has teed up an even larger sale.

Question:

Do you think we should still be selling them weapons, the United States?

(Crosstalk)

President Donald Trump:

Well, I'm going to have that discussion with President Xi. President Xi would like us not to. And I'll have that discussion.

Nick Schifrin:

That statement despite 40 years of U.S. assurance to Taiwan it will not consult the People's Republic of China on arms sales.

Ely Ratner:

That is not something the United States should do. We should not be in the business of negotiating Taiwan arms sales packages with Beijing. And we should not be viewing America's relationship with Taiwan as somehow a part of the U.S.-China relationship.

Nick Schifrin:

China also wants the U.S. to change diplomatic language set in 1998 by President Clinton during a trip to Shanghai.

Former President Bill Clinton:

We don't support independence for Taiwan.

Nick Schifrin:

China wants President Trump to be more declarative to say -- quote -- "We oppose independence for Taiwan."

Lin Jian, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson (through interpreter):

The Taiwan question is the very core of China's core interests and the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations.

Nick Schifrin:

China's Taiwan asks have sparked a letter from eight bipartisan senators this week declaring to President Trump: "You can make clear to Beijing that, as you seek to level the economic playing field, American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation."

Ely Ratner:

While there are some concerns that Trump may say things that undermine the U.S. policy toward Taiwan, what is actually most important is, again, what the United States does after. Does Trump after this visit return to the business of supporting Taiwan diplomatically and supporting Taiwan's defense and resilience?

Nick Schifrin:

Beyond the national security issues, much of the focus of this trip and deliverables from the summit are economic. President Trump arrives here with a delegation of prominent CEOs. The U.S. and China are discussing extending their trade truce and they are considering launching a board of trade and investment alongside Chinese purchases of American products.

That includes Boeing jets and agriculture, including American beef and American pork. And despite bipartisan concern that Chinese investments could pose national security threats, President Trump recently said the U.S. is open for business.

Donald Trump:

Because, now, if they want to come in and build a plant and hire you and hire your friends and your neighbors, that's great. I love that. Let China come in.

Nick Schifrin:

That provides an opening to an already confident Xi Jinping, confident because, as China expands its military and nuclear forces, it has withstood President Trump's tariffs and found its own leverage. China restricted the export of rare earths and rare earth magnets that the world needs for everything from electric vehicles to fighter jets.

Gracelin Baskaran:

The United States is going to need those export controls lifted. Outside of China, very little supply currently exists for many of these materials and magnets.

Nick Schifrin:

Gracelin Baskaran is a mineral economist at the Center for Strategic International Studies. She says, as part of last year's trade, truce China agreed to lift export restrictions, but it hasn't followed through.

Gracelin Baskaran:

Quite recently, a number of aerospace manufacturing companies here in the U.S. have raised the alarm that, if imports from China don't increase, they may have to pause manufacturing. So even though the formal restrictions are on pause, the imports have not resumed to the levels that we'd like.

Nick Schifrin:

The U.S. has its own leverage. It restricts the export of the most advanced computer chips that China needs for A.I. And the U.S. could re-raise tariffs as the Chinese economy faces headwinds.

But the Chinese feel confident, as I discussed today with Henry Wang, the president of the Beijing think tank Center for China and Globalization.

Henry Wang:

This 2026 summit is so different with the 2017 summit, because, at that time, China was not near-peer status. And China's GDP has gone up in almost 70 percent of the U.S., and China has become a leading power on the green transition.

So I think, in that aspect, China has achieved counter-capability with the U.S. So, as I said, there's a mutual assurance deterrence now. So we have to really find a way to work together.

Nick Schifrin:

China does have leverage over Iran. Is it willing to use that leverage if President Trump asks for it? Or, no, is it more interested in seeing this war continue?

Henry Wang:

No, I think it's not in the Chinese interest to see this war continue. China was passively brought into this war, this kind of mediating process. China would certainly like to do more. But also it depends on how well the U.S. treats China.

If the U.S. treats China as a friend, as an equal partner, as a workable partner, then they should give China some respect and maybe look after China's core interests as well.

Nick Schifrin:

Core interests meaning Taiwan.

Henry Wang:

Yes. I think China is very concerned about Taiwan being supported by the U.S. for the separatist and independent tendency. So that is really, I think, important that our friends in the U.S. has to understand.

So I think selling weapons to Taiwan, Trump is a businessman. He may want to pursue that. But I think China is certainly against that. I mean, no matter what kind of weapon system China -- Taiwan may have, it's -- comparing with mainland, it's peanuts.

Nick Schifrin:

But how much is China willing to actually do when it comes to Iran, when the U.S. sanctions, so-called teapot refineries, that buy some of the Iranian oil, Beijing told the refineries not to listen to the U.S. sanctions, to oppose the sanctions?

I mean, it seems to me that Beijing has resisted us attempts to try and use its leverage over Iran.

Henry Wang:

Yes, that's true. I think gone are the days that the long-arms jurisdiction like the U.S. is -- act as international law. China is big enough not to follow the U.S. law.

Nick Schifrin:

What does Beijing want to achieve at this summit?

Henry Wang:

To assure the global community, OK, the two largest economy, two strongest leader are meeting in Beijing. We cannot change each other. But then we can probably find a way to coexist peacefully. We need to work together as two biggest country in this world.

Nick Schifrin:

And tomorrow's meeting will help determine whether the U.S. and China embrace collaboration over confrontation.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.