SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
President Donald Trump has completed a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders discussed issues ranging from trade to the war in Iran. Here to tell us more about what happened and why it matters is Sarah Beran. She worked in the U.S. embassy in Beijing and was senior director for China and Taiwan affairs at the White House National Security Council in the Biden administration. Sarah, welcome.
SARAH BERAN: Thanks so much. Great to be here.
PFEIFFER: Would you first tell us your top impressions and conclusions from these talks?
BERAN: There's a lot we don't know yet. Neither side has issued a final statement. We're not really sure what the deliverables are yet. We're sort of gathering those from press statements. But again, the picture's still a little murky. I think the major outcome I see right now is really just the positive optics between the two leaders. The Chinese have put out a new framework for the relationship called constructive strategic stability. I have a lot of questions about what that means. If they are looking for predictability with this White House, that is going to be challenging.
PFEIFFER: So even given our limited view so far on what was tangibly accomplished, how well do you think this went or didn't go for President Trump and how much did he get out of it what he hoped for?
BERAN: You know, I think both leaders went into the meeting really just wanting stability and the perception of a G2 relationship. Beijing needs that ahead of the party congress next year, where Xi will cement his fourth term in office, and President Trump can use that going into the midterms in the second half of his term - stability externally, so both can deal on the domestic issues. I think they got that. The question is, what happens next, and how do both sides look at the guardrails for the relationship?
PFEIFFER: One thing Trump was very explicit about is wanting China to open its wallet and buy more American stuff - soybeans, planes. Any sense of whether that's likely to come through?
BERAN: We're hearing, I think, from press interviews, at least - again, not from the Chinese side and confirmed purchases - but there will be a purchase of 200 Boeing planes, agricultural goods, GE engines. I want to emphasize here, though, we're really just going back to the status quo ante before the trade war last - Liberation Day last year. So the levels of purchases that we're talking about is really just rolling the clock back to where we were in 2024.
PFEIFFER: When you look at this from the China side, how well do you think the summit went for President Xi given his priorities going into it?
BERAN: I think Beijing got what they wanted. A U.S. president traveled for the first time to Beijing in nine years. That's important. It shows a degree of respect and equality. The optics or the images coming out of the visit were very positive from where Beijing sits, you know, significant time spent not just in a meeting, but also in social events, the walk, the tea, the personal time between the two presidents. And then I think, actually the CEO delegation that traveled with the president was a very positive signal for Beijing in signaling that there is continued interest by foreign investors and multinationals. And that certainly is an image they have been trying to portray, particularly post-COVID, that the Chinese economy is recovering, that the growth is - will return and that investment is still something that they want to try to attract and retain.
PFEIFFER: And that that many big-name CF - CEOs...
BERAN: Exactly.
PFEIFFER: ...Would go says something about the value of China.
BERAN: Absolutely.
PFEIFFER: President Xi very much emphasized the importance of Taiwan in U.S.-China relations, Taiwan, of course, being the self-governed island that China claims as its territory. And President Xi warned that this is a point of tension that could lead to clashes and conflict. Why do you think he felt the need to issue that warning of sorts to Trump?
BERAN: You know, I've been involved in four presidential summits with China, and every single one Taiwan is on the agenda and an important issue of conversation. Part of that is because our positions are so diametrically opposed, with Beijing, of course, focused on reunification and the U.S. focused on status quo. Those are not compatible long term, so there's no solving this problem. It's about managing it. I think Taiwan was such a front-and-center issue in this meeting - and I will note, I think it was unusual the way that Beijing put out this statement ahead of, really, the meetings really concluding, underscoring their position. That's unusual. Usually, they wait till the end, and it's part of the meeting wrap-up. But that warning, I think, was important for them, not just domestically but also to the U.S. in a very public fashion.
PFEIFFER: What do you think the summit overall says about the future of U.S.-China relations?
BERAN: You know, if anything I have learned over the last 10, 15 years of working U.S.-China, it's that it is quite hard to predict where things will go. But I will also say that I think there's greater resilience in the relationship between the two countries than most people, even China experts, give it credit for. You know, we've been now almost 10 years of on-and-off trade war. And still, there are working channels between the countries. So I would expect this pattern to continue for the foreseeable future. We're in this transition period between what was an era of engagement, Obama and before, through this transition to whatever comes next. And I don't yet think we know what that will be. It will depend on the choices both countries make in the coming years.
PFEIFFER: It's interesting that, in many ways, Trump seems to refer to China as an enemy when he's talking about it in the U.S., but that is not at all how the relationship looked as we watched...
BERAN: That's right.
PFEIFFER: ...Him in (ph) Beijing.
BERAN: Yes, a little bit of cognitive dissonance.
PFEIFFER: That is Sarah Beran. She's former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. Thank you.
BERAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
