Donald Trump is in Beijing for three days.Image: keystone
analysis
The Chinese president received his American counterpart with honors. However, the meeting does not come without security precautions.
May 14, 2026, 5:24 p.mMay 14, 2026, 5:29 p.m
Fabian Kretschmer / ch media
As Donald Trump and Xi Jinping began their talks in the Great Hall of the People, the contrast between the world’s two most powerful men was more evident than ever before. “We will have a fantastic future,” said the US President, freely improvising, followed by an extensive series of superlatives: “There are people who say this is the greatest summit of all time. They’ve never seen anything like this before!”.
The Chinese party leader, on the other hand, stuck strictly to his carefully written notes; spoke without showing visible emotions: “Both sides should be partners instead of opponents.”
For over two hours, Xi and Trump negotiated the most important questions of the moment – from the Iran war to the mutual trade conflict to the future of Taiwan. And even if the concrete results of the talks initially remained unclear, they were described as positive by both sides.
Different goals
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in an initial statement that the USA and China had agreed to establish “constructive, strategic stability”. It would be about regulating competition, controlling differences and creating lasting peace.
However, during the first visit to China by a US president in nine years, it also became clear that the two heads of state operate according to very different logics. There is Trump, who is driven by daily news, is under pressure domestically and urgently needs to present successes to his electorate before the parliamentary elections.
Xi, on the other hand, is playing for time, thinks in five-year plans and does not have to fear critical media or poor poll numbers. His aim is to negotiate a strategic breather in order to prepare for long-term competition between world powers.
Will Xi play his trump card?
And he clearly sees himself in a better starting position at the moment. The biggest trump card up Xi Jinping’s sleeve: He has a quasi-monopoly on rare earths – and thus controls access to the raw materials that the USA also needs to replenish its military arsenal, which has been emptied in Iran. The crucial question is: Will Xi Jinping aggressively use his strength at the summit with Trump?
In any case, his rhetoric on Taiwan appears to be much more forceful than at previous meetings. Xi described the so-called Taiwan issue as the “most important issue in Sino-American relations” which – if handled “wrongly” – would plunge the two countries into conflict. It’s a not-so-subtle warning to Washington. It is not yet known whether Xi also pressured the US President to stop a planned $11 billion arms package to Taiwan.
The focus of the two-day meeting so far has been the bombastic look, which the US President is clearly enjoying. “The arrival that everyone has been waiting for,” was the headline of the White House on its It is obvious that the Chinese want to offer their guest an unforgettable ego trip.
Tech billionaires like schoolboys
The rest of the program is also designed for symbolism: After the first negotiations, Xi Jinping leads the US President to the historic Temple of Heaven, which former Foreign Minister Henry Kissinger has visited over a dozen times. Trump will be invited to the state banquet on Thursday evening, and the heads of state will hold a final working meeting on Friday morning.
The appointments that Donald Trump did not attend during his stay in Beijing are also particularly revealing. The 79-year-old does not visit any corporations, neither Chinese nor American. He doesn’t stop by his embassy to greet employees, doesn’t get a briefing from the US Chamber of Commerce, doesn’t enter a university campus or meet representatives of civil society in China, which is under radical pressure.
Instead, Trump brought a business delegation that was tough. On Thursday morning they provided a picture for the history books: The richest and most powerful men in the world, from Elon Musk (Tesla) to Tim Cook (Apple) to Jensen Huang (Nvidia), dutifully waited on the steps in front of the Great Hall of the People for the arrival of the heads of state. They looked a bit like schoolboys on a school trip, cracking jokes and playing impatiently on their smartphones. And they will all probably travel home with deals worth billions of dollars in their luggage.
During the glamorous summit, however, the limits of China’s opening continued to shine through. When the television station CNN broadcast live to the renowned “New Yorker” journalist Evan Osnos, who traveled to Beijing for Trump’s visit, the internet connection from his hotel room dropped out several times. It was a small but symbolic moment that shows that, despite all the diplomatic orchestration, China remains a strictly controlled and digitally shielded place.
In any case, Trump’s entire delegation traveled to the Middle Kingdom under high security precautions: all government officials left their personal cell phones and laptops at home. The risk that sensitive data could be hacked is far too high. (aargauerzeitung.ch)