With just a few weeks left before President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, it seems that the U.S. war in the Middle East will, in all likelihood, remain unfinished business, if not a major obstacle to addressing longstanding issues between the two countries.
There is little question that the war and its consequences for global trade will be agenda item number one for that much-anticipated summit between the world’s two most powerful leaders.
While the war is certain to subsume, distract from, and push other pressing matters off that very crowded agenda, it could nevertheless set a positive tone for these crucial discussions by demonstrating the urgent need for the superpowers to work together when it comes to tamping down regional conflicts across the globe. Many have speculated that the war would “undermine the summit,” but so far at least, both Beijing and Washington have worked hard to keep U.S.-China frictions from getting out of hand during this delicate period.
Read at Responsible Statecraft
Author
More on Asia
Events on China
