From trade to Syria: US and Chinese leaders to discuss a wide range of issues

06.04.2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping is arriving in the United States of America today. He will meet with the current US President Donald Trump. This is the first meeting of the Chinese leader with the US president known for his anti-Chinese sentiments.

Meaning of the meeting

Negotiations will last 2 days and will be held in an informal atmosphere at the Trump Residence in Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The main issues are: bilateral trade issues, the South China Sea, North Korea, and positions on key issues of international politics, including Syria.

The current summit is primarily an introductory nature. The leaders of the two superpowers are meeting for the first time. The Chinese side would like to "probe" Trump, find out how far he is willing to go in the confrontation with China, which he promised repeatedly during the election campaign.

Trade

Earlier Donald Trump called the existing foreign trade relations with China dishonest and called for their revision. He did not offer any specific measure, but experts predicted a new trade war until the US introduced protectionist measures. The policy of rebuilding the national industry objectively requires it, but that should complicate the already difficult relations with China.

The interests of the two powers differ on the key issue for Trump, which was an important element of his electoral program. Trump seeks to restore America's industrial power, create new jobs. He contrasts his nationalist Americanism with globalism. China sees in the United States primarily a sales market and being the main "workshop of the world" openly supports globalism. At the summit in Davos, the Chinese leader said this openly and negatively spoke about the populism of Trump.

Other problems

Among the bilateral problems of high importance, which will necessarily be discussed - the situation in the South China Sea, the Taiwan issue and the possible departure of the United States from the one-China policy, as Trump previously stated, the US accusations of China in cyber-espionage.

Global problems that affect the leaders of the two countries are the nuclear program of North Korea, and of course the Syrian crisis. It so happened that the visit of the Chinese leader coincided with another aggravation and the appearance of real prospects of drawing the US into this war. In this situation, much depends on China, and new prospects for diplomacy are opening up for Xi Jinping.

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