Trump and China’s President Xi Conclude Their Two Day Summit

China’s President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump wrapped up their two day summit at the former’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort on Friday. The pair of world leaders are discussed several matters that have been major sources of tension in U.S.-China relations, and coming out of the meeting they were optimistic without offering many specifics about the future progression of the relationship.

We’ve broken down four of the more challenging aspects of China's relationship with the U.S. for you below.

North Korea

The rogue state has continued the development of its nuclear weapons program, and despite international sanctions it shows no signs of abandoning its program. After the regime tested a ballistic missile on Wednesday Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. has "no further comment" on North Korea, indicating that the Trump administration has little remaining patience for North Korea’s provocations. The test came just two days after the House of Representatives passed bills to label the country as a state sponsor of terrorism and condemn such tests with large, bipartisan majorities, and President Trump himself said the U.S. is ready to act alone to deal with North Korea.

North Korea’s belligerence towards its neighbors, particularly its old adversaries South Korea and Japan, have long threatened the stability of northern Asia. China is viewed as being well positioned to help rein in North Korea because of its status as the primary trading partner of "the Hermit Kingdom." While China is sympathetic to its communist neighbor, it also needs regional stability to continue its growth into an economic power and provide for a rapidly growing middle class, and North Korea’s actions make that more elusive.

For example, following this week’s test, the U.S. deployed parts of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to South Korea to counter the threat of a nuclear strike from their neighbor to the north. China has been outspoken in its opposition to the system’s presence so close to its borders because it weakens China’s nuclear deterrent by alerting the U.S. and its allies to missiles launched from China as well.

Trade

Talking points about the inequities of global trade and how the U.S. had been taken advantage of by its economic partners, including numerous barbs directed at China, were a hallmark of Trump’s campaign speeches. Now the president will have the opportunity to air those grievances directly to his Chinese counterpart just a week after his administration announced two executive orders aimed at stopping trade abuse and reducing trade deficits.

But one thing that won’t be up for in-depth discussion are imposing tariffs — basically taxes imposed on products imported from a certain country — on Chinese goods in retaliation for abusive trade practices. Officials in the Trump administration and the president himself have said that they aren’t prepared to discuss tariffs during this round of talks. They also won’t formally label China as a currency manipulator at this time, despite a campaign pledge to do so. But those trade issues, in addition to dumping violations (when a country floods a foreign market with lower cost goods in violation of trade law), and intellectual property theft through cybercrime will remain points of contention between the U.S. and China going forward.

South China Sea

At several locations in the South China Sea outside the internationally-recognized boundaries of its territorial waters, China has claimed ownership of contested islands and begun transforming those isolated shoals into military bases. Some of those locations — including the Spratly and Paracel Islands and Scarborough Reef— are the subject of international disputes over their ownership, with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei all having claims conflicting with China’s.

Those nations are keen on laying claim to small desolate scraps of land throughout the South China Sea not only because they’re located near vital shipping lanes, but they’re also believed to have a resource-rich seafloor nearby that could be economically valuable if developed. China’s willingness to assert its claim by building military bases has drawn criticism from the U.S. and put China at risk of igniting a conflict with its neighbors.

One China Policy

Taiwan is a country located off the coast of China that was formed after the communist party overthrew the Republic of China (ROC) in 1949. The losers of the Chinese Civil War fled to the island, which never fell under the control of the communists. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) doesn’t recognize the existence of Taiwan’s independent government, which claims to be the legitimate government of mainland China as well.

This led to the rise of the so-called "One China Policy" which holds that there’s only one legitimate government of China which by definition includes Taiwan, and that to formally recognize one — either the ROC or PRC — requires severing diplomatic relations with the other. While the U.S. recognizes the PRC as China’s legal government, it doesn’t accept the PRC’s claim over Taiwan and pursues strong unofficial relations with Taiwan’s government. The U.S. also has a military relationship with Taiwan, as America pledged to defend it if China were to try forcibly bringing Taiwan under its control.

After his victory in the 2016 presidential election, then-President-elect Trump accepted a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s president in which they discussed the close ties between the two nations. It marked the first time in decades that an American president-elect had a public dialog with Taiwan’s leader. Over three months later after being sworn in as president, Trump had a call with China’s President Xi and accepted the One China Policy as the status quo between the nations.

Tell your reps what you think of U.S.-China relations using the "Take Action" button.

Take Action

Have questions about politics? Let us know! Send us an email and you could see your answer in a future post.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Kremlin / Public Domain)