China’s President Xi Jinping on Thursday praised a “new positioning” in relations with the United States that envisions cooperation alongside managed competition following his summit with Donald Trump.
Trump’s Beijing visit, the first by a U.S. president in nearly a decade, runs until Friday, at a time when his Iran war is denting domestic approval ratings ahead of mid-term elections.
Xi said both leaders agreed that building a constructive, strategically stable relationship would guide ties in the next three years and beyond, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.
He described such ties as based primarily on cooperation but with measured competition for “a normal stability in which differences are controllable, and a lasting stability in which peace can be expected,” the ministry added.
Analysts said the reference to “constructive, strategically stable” ties showed China was following a gradation in relations that yields a framework for diplomacy in which it can manage multi-faceted ties with the United States.
“It’s new language and I think it reflects China’s desire to put more institutional guardrails around U.S.-China relations, both competition and cooperation,” said Joe Mazur, geopolitics analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China.
But frictions, such as those over the Iran conflict and recent U.S. sanctions on Chinese firms, continue to “complicate U.S.-China dynamics” and may test the durability of the new framework, said Zhao Minghao, an international relations expert at Shanghai’s Fudan University.
Even as Xi talked up cooperation, he stressed “utmost caution” by the United States in handling the issue of Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China, although Taipei rejects the contention.
“If handled poorly, the two countries could collide or even enter into conflict, pushing the entire China-U.S. relationship into an extremely dangerous situation,” the Chinese leader said.
The White House’s reaction, in comparison, was much subdued, saying Trump and Xi held a “good” meeting without making any reference to Taiwan.
“President Trump had a good meeting with President Xi of China. The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation,” the White House said in a statement.
It made no mention of discussions on self-ruled Taiwan that Xi earlier said could cause a “conflict” between China and the United States should the issue be mishandled.
