BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an unusually direct warning to President Donald Trump on May 14, telling him that mishandling Taiwan — the most important issue in the U.S.-China relationship — could trigger a clash between the two powers, even as Trump publicly praised Xi as a “great leader” and a friend.
The stark contrast between Xi’s somber opening remarks and Trump’s effusive praise set the tone for a summit at the Great Hall of the People that was heavy on ceremony but left unresolved the core disputes dividing Washington and Beijing: Taiwan’s status, the war with Iran, and trade imbalances.
“If [the Taiwan issue] is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy general stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning wrote on X, summarizing Xi’s private remarks during roughly two hours of closed-door talks. “Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great danger.”
Before the doors closed, Trump told reporters that Xi “is a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like that I say it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true.” Trump added: “It’s an honor to be his friend,” and predicted that “the relationship between China and the United States will be better than ever.”
Xi, by contrast, opened his public remarks with a question about whether the two nations “can transcend the ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new model of great-power relations” — a reference to the foreign-policy concept that rising and established powers tend toward war.
Xi’s pointed warning about Taiwan reflected Beijing’s simmering anger over a pending $11 billion U.S. arms package for Taipei that the White House has approved but not yet delivered. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, traveling with the president, told NBC News afterward that U.S. policy toward the self-governed island China claims as its own remains “unchanged,” but cautioned that any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan by force “will be a terrible mistake.”
“We always raise our position, and then we move on to other issues,” Rubio said.
Taiwan’s government, through a spokesperson for the prime minister, expressed gratitude for what they called America’s “long-term support,” adding that the administration views any measures that “contribute to regional stability” positively.
Iran and the Strait of Hormuz
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Xi indicated during their talks that he “would like to be helpful” in negotiating an end to the conflict with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure by Iranian forces has stranded oil tankers and driven up global energy prices — threatening economic growth as November’s midterm elections approach.
The White House’s readout of the meeting tempered that optimism. It said Xi opposed Iran’s proposal to impose transit fees on ships passing through the strait and expressed interest in China purchasing more American oil to reduce its future dependence on Persian Gulf crude.
Rubio, speaking to Hannity separately, framed the administration’s approach bluntly: “The economies are melting because of this crisis,” which means consumers are “buying fewer Chinese products.” China is Iran’s largest oil buyer, giving Beijing potential leverage over Tehran.
Appearing before a congressional hearing May 14, U.S. Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper declined to discuss intelligence matters when asked whether China is providing intelligence to assist Iranian attacks on American forces. He said only that the Iranian military “is made up in large part of Russian and Chinese equipment.”
Trade, Boeing, and fentanyl
The summit produced movement on the economic front. Trump told Fox News that Xi committed to purchasing 200 Boeing aircraft, and Xi said in a banquet toast that China’s “door of opportunity will open wider and wider” while a group of American business leaders accompanying the president watched.
The two sides also discussed extending a trade truce reached last year that paused a cycle of mutual tariff threats, the White House said, along with ways to expand Chinese market access for American firms and increase Chinese investment in U.S. industries. Trump administration officials want to establish a bilateral trade board to manage ongoing disputes.
Xi told Trump that American and Chinese aspirations — framed as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement — “can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and promote the welfare of the whole world.”
Two leaders also addressed continued efforts to curb the flow of fentanyl-precursor chemicals from China to the United States, an issue that has been a rare point of cooperation in recent years.
A formal state dinner at the Temple of Heaven capped the day, where Trump called the visit “a great honor” and announced Xi would make a reciprocal visit to the White House on September 24 — a date not previously disclosed.
The three-day visit’s elaborate welcome included cannon salvos, renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Chinese national anthem, and hundreds of students waving flags and flowers from both nations. Whether the choreographed goodwill translates into progress on the disputes Xi raised remains an open question.