By Nitya Chakraborty
Donald Trump-Xi Jinping summit on September 24 in Washington has not led to a major breakthrough in resolving the issues of bilateral trade, AI’s future, West Asia wars and Taiwan’s fate, but the visible bonhomie between the two leaders has laid the ground for a firm understanding that the world’s two biggest powers will cooperate to restore global peace.
The Washington summit was held just four months after Trump-Xi summit in Beijing in May this year. This was a follow-up of the May summit discussions. Again, both are meeting in the middle of December at the G-20 summit in Miami to be hosted by the U.S. President. There is a possibility of taking the Washington results further at the Miami meeting.
Two things stand out prominently from the discussions at the Washington summit. President Xi Jinping set the agenda and came out with a number of original proposals. Trump only reacted in his way, but could not contribute anything original during the discussions, apart from the reiteration of the U.S. position on all the pending issues. In fact, the observation made by President Xi at the beginning of the summit that rather than confrontation, conditions for achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and ‘Making America Great Again’ go hand in hand and should be the goal.
This comment of President XI was music to Trump’s ears as he has been criticized continuously by the Left Democratic politicians for his MAGA programme. Trump is seeking votes for his candidates in the mid-term elections in November on the basis of his MAGA programme. President Xi’s endorsement of MAGA just before the mid-term elections must have annoyed the Left democrats including Bernie Sanders and Mamdani, but the Chinese President did not care about what the Left would feel about his comment. Xi was interested in getting maximum mileage for China through his relationship with Trump.
It will be interesting to note that President Xi had emphasised on getting on board the U.S. as a partner and not as a competing superpower. This new approach is essentially Xi’s own understanding of the future roadmap for making China the biggest economy in the world surpassing USA in 2049, the centenary year of the communist China. For India also, President Xi emphasised on this partnership as against friendly competition, which the Chinese analysts used to mention till recently.
This approach emanates from the latest view of the Xi-led Communist Party leadership that China’s economic growth can go faster in a situation of peace and cooperation with the USA. Xi therefore said at the summit: “We should coexist in peace. China and the United States, as two major countries, stand to gain from cooperation and both lose in confrontation. Our two militaries should maintain regular dialogue and improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention.”
Xi Jinping’s approach emanates from the continuing growth of the Chinese economy in the new century and bridging the gap with the largest economic power the United States. In 2000, China had a total GDP in nominal terms estimated at US$ 1.22 trillion as against $ 10.25 trillion of USA. In the last 26 years, the Chinese GDP has soared up to $ 20.85 trillion as against US’s total GDP value estimated at US$ 32.38 trillion. President XI through his vision for China by 2049, is seeking to bridge the GDP gap and surpass the USA to put China as the biggest economic power of the world.
His proposals for lessening tensions – which also included the invitation of 100,000 young Americans to visit China on student exchanges – come amid a period of intense competition between the two powers over artificial intelligence and trade, with each side imposing tariffs on the other. But still Xi’ proposal to allow the young Americans to mix with young Chinese Gen Z was a measure of confidence that the influx of the young Americans would not have any adverse impact on the young Chinese minds.
Trump’s speech at the dinner hosted for the Chinese President and Madame Peng, attended by the titans of the US tech industry, was significant for its sweep of history in US-China relations.
“Tonight, we revive the spirit of that first encounter here on American soil as we are joined by some of the top leaders in business, culture and government from our own time,” he said. “On one side, China draws on thousands of years of history and tradition from Sun Tzu to Sun Yat-sen. For Americans, we inherit a legacy of faith from Jerusalem to Rome, democracy of ancient Athens, the triumphs of Sparta.”
Trump gave due recognition to the Chinese history and civilisation and that was certainly a matter of satisfaction for the Chinese president. This personal rapport however did not have much impact on the discussions on AI or Iran. On AI, President Xi opposed undue control on AI development and favoured open source AI while, the U.S. still insisted on strict export controls on microchips, semi-conductors, software and chip making equipment aimed at slowing down China’s AI development
As regards trade, the truce arrived at the summit in Busan last year to keep tariffs lower is due to expire in November this year. This truce has been extended till February 2027. More discussions on it are expected at the bilateral talks between the two leaders at the coming G 20 summit in December in Miami. Despite trade war, Chinese products are continuing to be surging in U.S. market.
In sum, the discussions at the September 24 summit give positive signals to the global polity and economy. The negotiations between the two countries will be protracted, but the good thing is that both governments know the limits of attrition. Both Trump and Xi Jinping are transactionists. They are concerned about expanding their own nation’s interests. Broader issues will be only put into this framework of understanding. Trump may like to call it G2, but President XI is committed to multilateralism, he will not officially endorse G2. The global geopolitics will move around these two leaders for at least another two years till the U.S. Presidential elections in November 2028. (IPA Service)
