US President Donald Trump’s decision to postpone his planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping has cast a shadow over bilateral relations, though analysts say the move is unlikely to cause lasting damage as both sides remain committed to keeping ties stable.
The delay — prompted by the ongoing US-Iran conflict — has interrupted a carefully managed diplomatic process just as the two countries concluded high-stakes trade talks in Paris on Monday, which were intended to lay the groundwork for Trump’s Beijing visit, originally scheduled for later this month.
“The situation is not in jeopardy, and Beijing still wants to organise the summit,” said Zhao Minghao, an international relations expert at Shanghai’s Fudan University, though he warned that Trump’s military engagement in Iran had made US-China interactions “more difficult” and opened the door to further trade uncertainty.
Washington has sent mixed signals about the reason for the postponement. Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he might delay the trip if China did not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday the delay reflected the demands of coordinating the war effort rather than trade disagreements or the Hormuz issue.
Analysts said the priority for both governments remained keeping relations on an even keel. For China’s export-dependent economy, managing global uncertainty was paramount, according to Patricia Kim of the Brookings Institution, who said Beijing understood that keeping Trump satisfied was central to managing the relationship — even as it remained wary of giving him too grand a reception while US military operations against Iran continued.
The Paris talks yielded some signs of flexibility, with a source familiar with the negotiations telling Reuters that China showed openness to purchasing additional US agricultural goods, including poultry, beef, and non-soybean crops. The two sides also discussed rare earth mineral flows and new frameworks for managing trade and investment.
State-run China Daily described the Paris talks as “constructive” in an editorial on Tuesday, but cautioned Washington that Beijing’s willingness to engage “should not be mistaken for acquiescence.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday that communication about the timing of Trump’s visit was ongoing, adding that head-of-state diplomacy played “an irreplaceable role” in guiding the bilateral relationship.
(Reuters)
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