Trump heads to China for superpower summit

Donald Trump was due in Beijing Wednesday on the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, as he seeks to ramp up trade despite potential friction over Taiwan and Iran.

Leaving Washington on Tuesday on a trip that was delayed by his war, Trump said he expected a “long talk” with counterpart Xi Jinping about Iran, which relies on China as the top customer for its US-sanctioned oil.

But he also played down disagreements on Iran, saying that Xi has been “relatively good, to be honest with you”.

“I don’t think we need any help with Iran. We’ll win it one way or the other. We’ll win it peacefully or otherwise,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House.

This week’s trip — the first since Trump visited in 2017 — will involve high-stakes talks with Xi on Thursday and Friday, during a packed itinerary that includes a state banquet and tea reception.

Donald Trump said Monday that he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by China — a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on its support to the island.

China’s controls on rare earth exports and the countries’ raucous trade relationship are among the topics expected to be taken up by the heads of the world’s top two economies.

The tense buildup to the superpower summit was already visible Tuesday on the streets of Beijing, with police monitoring major intersections and checking the ID cards of passengers on the metro, AFP journalists saw.

“It’s definitely a big deal,” said Wen Wen, a 24-year-old woman travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing, when asked by AFP about Donald Trump’s visit.

“Some progress will certainly be made,” she said, noting that she hopes China and the United States can ensure “lasting peace” despite “recent instability in the global situation”.

Trade ties between Beijing and Washington have been fraught in recent years. The two sides are currently maintaining a one-year truce in their tariff war reached at Trump and Xi’s last meeting in South Korea in October.