Kinaforum

mandag 21. september 2026

What to Watch at the Xi-Trump Summit

On September 24, Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, four months after Trump’s state visit to Beijing in May. That meeting produced a set of economic agreements, a new U.S.-China Board of Trade and Board of Investment, an agreement to open a government-to-government dialogue on artificial intelligence, and a commitment by the two leaders to build what both governments calleda “constructive relationship of strategic stability.”

Several consequential elements of the relationship remain unsettled ahead of the September summit. The export-control truce reached in Busan on October 30, 2025—which holds both Washington’s Affiliates Rule and China’s October 9 rare-earth export-control package in abeyance—runs for one year, leaving its future uncertain.

Preparations for a bilateral AI risk-and-safety dialogue are reportedly underway, although its timing, participants, and agenda remain unsettled. And, according to some analysis, Washington and Beijing construe “constructive strategic stability” quite differently. The administration has also delayed announcing the proposed $14 billion U.S. arms sale for Taiwan, despite its having received congressional pre-approval in January.

Call in China to end English's core status sparks debate

From business and academia to social media and entertainment — English is considered the dominant global language. One in five people on Earth actively uses this lingua franca. In China, a mathematics professor specializing in vector algebra is now challenging this dominance in no uncertain terms. Tang Jiafeng believes that English should be abolished as a core subject in elementary schools, secondary schools and universities.

Tang is convinced that no other country in the world has placed as much importance on English as China has.

"Our children desperately begin learning English even before they have properly mastered their native language. Yet we are a civilization that dates back thousands of years. English is just a tool. It's enough to be able to use it. The tradition of revering and emulating Western cultures must come to an end," Tang says in social media.

Trump decries Democrats as ‘communists,’ even as he looks to impress China’s communist leader

Communism, President Donald Trump says, is the greatest threat the U.S. has ever faced. This summer, citing similarly grave concerns, he took the rare step of delivering a primetime address to the nation, accusing China of “sinister election meddling” in 2020 and reviving his yearslong push to dispute his loss in that year’s election.

Even as Trump seeks to decry Democrats as communists ahead of November’s midterm elections, he is rolling out the red carpet this week for Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country.

The state visit comes as the president himself has increasingly directed his administration to take large stakes in private companies to try to stimulate the economy — something even some Republicans decry as corporate socialism. The contradictions between Trump’s words and actions risk muddying Republican attack lines on Democrats.

China and the US are competing for AI dominance but have shared concerns over safety

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, leaders of rival nations in a race to dominate artificial intelligence, are expected to meet this week against a backdrop of rising concerns about the threats that rogue AI could pose to humanity.

The hopes for finding common ground on concerns around global AI safety are clouded by competition between the two countries. As China narrows the technology gap with the U.S., each country has expressed concern over how AI in the other’s hands could hurt them.

“The U.S.-China conversation in AI is getting caught in the ups and downs in the broader U.S.-China relationship,” said Scott Singer, co-director of the China AI Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Bessent calls meeting with China Vice Premier He Lifeng ‘successful’ ahead of Trump-Xi summit

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he had a successful meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. this week. The talks covered artificial intelligence and trade, among other issues ahead of Trump and Xi’s Sept. 24 summit in Washington, D.C.

Bessent, emerging from the meeting alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, said the two sides had discussed setting up a “U.S.-China AI Dialogue,” with the U.S. proposing the two countries set up a notification mechanism for incidents regarding AI. The notification mechanism would be for incidents rising “up to a national security level from AI,” he said.

US allies in Asia alarmed as think tank calls for pullback

A study by a US foreign policy think tank advocates a major military pullback from the western Pacific, prompting concern among long-standing allies of the United States across the Indo-Pacific, analysts say.

The report was authored by Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at the right-of-center Defense Priorities Foundation. Kavanagh calls for the US to "narrow its defense commitments in the region" by ending mutual defense alliances with South Korea, Japan, Australia and the Philippines.

The priority for Washington, she states, is to defend the US homeland and safeguard access to key economic markets and trade routes. That would be best served by pulling back from the "first island chain," which runs from Okinawa in southern Japan, through Taiwan and on to the Philippines.

Trump used to slam China. Here’s why he’s now rolling out the red carpet for Xi

When President Donald Trump first ran for office, he called out China as a menace to the U.S. economy, saying it had gutted America’s factories and eroded the middle class. That tough talk helped Trump get to the White House a decade ago, but since then, he increasingly speaks in glowing terms about Chinese President Xi Jinping, the geopolitical rival Trump will fete on Thursday with a state dinner.

“He’s a great gentleman; we get along great,” Trump said this month. “We have a very good trading relationship and, you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi.”

On issue after issue, the Republican president has given Xi a pass.

Trump shrugged off reports that China had provided Iran with satellite imagery, saying, “I think he’s behaved reasonably well.” After accusing Beijing of accessing U.S. voter files back in 2020, Trump indicated he was hesitant to retaliate: “I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then.”

Trump and Xi Are Stuck in an Iranian Finger Trap

There’s a practical lesson in the Chinese finger trap, a pearl of philosophical wisdom. To escape, the two people bound together by the finger mustn’t pull away, which only strengthens the grip. They must move closer together, in unison.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in Washington, D.C., later this month, he should bring one with him to play with U.S. President Donald Trump—because they’re stuck in an Iranian finger trap. The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, which crippled energy flows through the vital Strait of Hormuz, is now joined by the Houthis’ campaign against Saudi Arabia, damaging major oil infrastructure and disrupting the alternative route for shipping in the Red Sea.

Two Chinese miners partner in Beijing’s push to tap Tibet’s critical minerals

Tibet is home to some of China’s largest state-owned mining operations because a number of strategic minerals have been found in it, with some of them topping in volume by known reserves. In a latest development, two established Chinese mining companies have planned to jointly acquire and develop gold, copper and other critical mineral projects in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), marking the latest corporate push to tap the region’s resources as Beijing seeks to strengthen domestic supplies of strategic raw materials, reported scmp.comSep 19.

The report said that privately controlled Xizang Zhihui Mining and state-owned Zhaojin Nonferrous Mining had signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement on Sep 17 to pursue joint investment in mining projects in TAR.

The report cited Zhihui Mining as saying in a statement that the partners would target reserves of strategic minerals including copper, molybdenum, chromium, antimony, gold, tungsten and zinc.

State funeral honours Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader Tung Chee-hwa

Hong Kong has given a state funeral to Tung Chee-hwa, its first post-colonial leader, only the third time the city has granted such an honour since Britain returned it to Chinese rule in 1997.

Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials bid farewell to Tung at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point on Sunday, a day after a public vigil that drew dozens of political and business figures. Tung, Hong Kong’s first chief executive, died on September 8 at the age of 89. Members of the public could pay their respects by signing condolence books at three community halls until Sunday noon.

Why have US prosecutors labelled China’s Huawei a criminal enterprise?

Chinese technology giant Huawei is facing a landmark criminal trial in the United States amid Washington’s long-running tech rivalry with Beijing.

The trial began in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on September 9, with US prosecutors portraying Huawei as a criminal enterprise that spent two decades stealing technology from US companies, deceiving banks and circumventing sanctions on Iran.Huawei has pleaded not guilty and says the US government is attempting to turn ordinary business disputes and the actions of individual employees into evidence of a company-wide conspiracy.

The trial is expected to last about three months and overlaps with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s September 23-25 visit to Washington, where trade, artificial intelligence, tariffs and access to critical technologies are likely to be on the agenda.

US, China open high-level talks ahead of Trump-Xi summit

Top economic officials from China and the United States have begun talks in New York City aimed at clearing the way for possible agreements on trade, artificial intelligence and critical minerals ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng began talks at JPMorgan Chase’s Manhattan headquarters on Sunday morning, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also taking part.

Torbjørn Færøvik: Hong Kong - The Slow Death of a Free City

There was once a city in Asia known as the “Outpost of Freedom”. I remember it so well. When evening fell and its millions of lights came on, we journalists would gather at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club to discuss everything under the sun—not least the latest news from China.That outpost of freedom has long since died. Only the place name remains: Hong Kong.

When the British handed Hong Kong over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, China’s leaders promised that the territory would be allowed to retain its economic and political system for another fifty years. But it was not long before Beijing began interfering in matters large and small. Independent voices were silenced, stringent security laws were introduced, and political activities once regarded as normal were gradually outlawed.

Oil prices are high but could be much worse. Trump has China’s Xi to thank for that

When President Donald Trump launched his war against Iran in late February, energy analysts issued dire warnings that oil prices could more than double during a protracted conflict and urged investors and motorists to buckle up for a bumpy ride.

The war grinds on and oil prices certainly remain volatile. But the most dire projections have not yet come to pass six months into a conflict that has no end in sight. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making a much-anticipated state visit to Washington next week, could make a credible argument that the world has his country’s energy strategy to thank for that.

Trump will be at the airport to greet Xi when China’s leader arrives for his US state visit

Major study finds human induced climate change a factor in the Aug 26 Tibet-Nepal flash flood devastation

Climate change, including Human induced factors and industrial emissions, was a key factor in preconditioning the devastating glacier-avalanche triggered flash floods of ice, rock, mud, and water which swept through the Tibet-Nepal border on Aug 26 morning, killing or leaving missing thousands of people without any prior warning, reported Reuters and other news agencies Sep 17, citing the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group of researchers.

As of Aug 26, the flash floods have resulted in at least 1,410 deaths and 6,145 missing in Nepal, alongside 43 deaths and 519 missing in the Tibet. However, the numbers of the dead and missing in Tibet are feared to be much more than these bald officially cited figures in view of China’s denial of access to independent journalists and other witnesses and strict control on information about the disaster there.

Who Is to Blame for the Massive Death Toll in the Nepal Floods?

When a massive flood hit Nepal on August 26, Nepali social media split almost immediately into two camps of grief and anger. One camp blamed the government of China, saying hundreds of Nepalis – over 1,400 as of the last count – died because the warning had simply failed. Commentators accused China of sitting on satellite and disaster monitoring data that could have bought Nepal precious minutes of warning.

A second, more painful narrative came from survivors and local officials themselves: yes, the word had reached them that flood was coming down. There simply wasn’t enough time to react before the disaster arrived.

China’s embassy in Kathmandu called the claims that it had withheld information “completely false and misleading,” insisting Beijing shared information with the Nepali side in time. But the strongest pushback on the blame narrative didn’t come from Beijing at all, but from Nepal’s own disaster authority, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).

‘China Shock 2.0’ fuels EU push for united response to Beijing

Beijing has called for communication and pragmatism after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned of a second “China Shock” that’s damaging key manufacturing industries in the bloc.

The term “China shock” originally described the wave of cheap toys, textiles and basic electronics that flooded European markets after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, hollowing out low-end manufacturing. European industry escaped by moving up the value chain into higher-end goods.

“China Shock 2.0” describes a newer wave of exports, this time electric vehicles, chemicals, machinery and power-generation equipment. Unlike the situation two decades ago, Chinese manufacturing has now followed European industry up the value chain, leaving little higher ground for European companies to retreat to.

Besides, tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have narrowed Beijing’s access to the United States market, making Europe the largest remaining open destination for the surplus.

If AI really could kill us all, why give any ground to China?

China isn’t messing around.

The government recently unveiled a comprehensive strategy to make China the world’s AI leader by the end of this decade — a roadmap that includes massive, coordinated funding and resources on a scale that one-party rule makes significantly easier. Sure, the Chinese Communist Party is prone to hyperbole, but the country’s leaders view AI as an existential threat to their power, and they’re throwing the kitchen sink at the problem. They’re already catching up to the United States.

Meanwhile, the American AI industry says it wants to tap the brakes on its own development. Their fear is a different one: Silicon Valley is building a technology that could outstrip its makers’ control and eventually destroy humanity.