Day: May 13, 2026

Thucydides Trap, personal touches – all you need to know from Xi-Trump summit so far

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High-level reception Beijing pulled out all the stops for Trump. The welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People featured a military display, a 21-gun salute, and both national anthems played by a Chinese military band. Dozens of Chinese schoolchildren jumped and cheered as the leaders walked past, drawing applause from Trump. Advertisement “I was particularly impressed by those children,” he said in his opening remarks at the summit. “Those children were amazing … and I know they represent so much to you.” The military pageantry and elaborate welcome…

‘A flying White House’: Trump’s Air Force One fuels fascination in China

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Even before US President Donald Trump touched down in Beijing on Wednesday, the first act of the China-US summit was playing out in the skies above the Chinese capital. Hundreds of professional photographers and residents lined up across various points near Beijing Capital International Airport to capture one of the most recognisable symbols of the American presidency – Air Force One. Within minutes of its appearance, Chinese social media was flooded with videos and photos of the aircraft’s… South China Morning Post

Trump and Xi meet in Beijing for key summit, with trade, the Iran war and AI set to dominate talks

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US president Donald Trump has met with China’s leader Xi Jinping for a momentous summit that will pack negotiations on global conflict, international trade and the future of artificial intelligence into just over 24 hours. Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People, an imposing Mao-era building that borders the western edge of Tiananmen Square, on Thursday morning for an opening ceremony followed by an hour of face to face talks with Xi. Rows of uniformed officers flanked the red carpet laid out in front of the Great Hall…

As Trump and Xi Meet in China, American and Chinese People Are Drifting Apart

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During his 2005 presidential visit to China, George W. Bush, an enthusiastic mountain biker, cycled with members of the country’s national team. When China’s current leader, Xi Jinping, toured the United States in 2015, he received a football jersey from high schoolers in Tacoma, Wash., and promised to encourage more tourism between the countries. There seem to be few such displays of bilateral bonhomie in store for this week’s summit between Mr. Xi and President Trump in Beijing. That reflects a grim reality of U.S.-China relations: As geopolitical and economic…

Trump, Hegseth, Musk: Maga lands in Beijing – podcast

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Late on Wednesday evening local time, Donald Trump landed in Beijing. And it wasn’t just the president arriving in China – alongside him were Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, Elon Musk, Tim Cook and many more. As the Guardian’s senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins explains, Trump is in the country for a high-stakes meeting with President Xi Jinping, in the first visit of a US president to China since Trump was last in Beijing in 2017. But what will they talk about, and how much is at stake? Annie Kelly hears…

Chinese President Xi shakes hands with US President Trump ahead of key summit

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This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Unrivalled Xi-Trump summit analysis: get real-time updates and exclusive boots-on-the-ground reporting from our Beijing and Washington bureaus. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping today for a much-anticipated summit that could shape the next stage of rivalry between the world’s two superpowers. It is the first visit to China by a US president since Trump’s last trip in 2017 and comes…

Trump’s Entourage to China Has Numerous Industry Executives

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new video loaded: Trump’s Entourage to China Has Numerous Industry Executives <img src="https://www.chinastrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/trumps-entourage-to-china-has-numerous-industry-executives.jpg" data-testid="betamax-poster" sizes="(width < 1024px) 100vw, (width President Trump brought more than a dozen executives of lead financial and tech companies on his trip to Beijing. Trump is expected to discuss the creation of a board of investment and a board of trade with China. By Jamie Leventhal May 13, 2026 NYT

‘Basically a Chinese racket’: how China streaked ahead at a global AI conference

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Chinese universities have significantly overtaken their American rivals in research output at one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) conferences, according to an analysis of more than 5,000 accepted papers that went viral on social media. Among the top 50 institutions contributing to the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), held in Rio de Janeiro last month, mainland China accounted for about 44 per cent of the total, with Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University and Peking University taking the top four spots globally. Some social media…

US’ Rubio calls on China to play an ‘active’ role in ending Iran war, despite Trump rhetoric

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington hopes to convince Beijing to play a “more active role” in resolving the Iran crisis, a clear sign the issue will come into sharp focus when President Donald Trump holds his closely watched summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Speaking to Fox News aboard Air Force One, Rubio said the Iran war was a “huge source of instability” and “threatens to destabilise Asia more than any other part of the world because it’s heavily reliant on the straits for energy”. “It’s in…

Trump-Xi summit live: US president preparing to meet China’s leader with trade, Taiwan and the Iran war set to dominate talks

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