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President Trump leaves this week for a state visit to China. Trade is on the agenda, along with an effort to stabilize the relationship between these two great world powers. But the Iran war is now in its third month, and that lingering conflict hangs over this whole trip. NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith reports.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: When President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last fall, the two leaders turned down the temperature on what had been an escalating trade war. On Air Force One afterward, Trump didn't hold back.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: From zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12.
KEITH: And in the lead-up to this state visit, Trump built the hype.
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TRUMP: Yeah. It's going to be a wild one. I said, but we have to put on the biggest display you've ever had in the history of China. You know, last time I went to China, President Xi - he treated me so well.
KEITH: The trip was pushed back six weeks with the idea that the war with Iran would be over. Instead, it smolders on, with Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz causing economic shock around the world. Kurt Campbell is chairman of The Asia Group and did China policy in the Biden administration.
KURT CAMPBELL: The president's anticipation was that he would go to Beijing in a position of strength, that we would have prevailed in Iran, just like we did in Venezuela. But try as they might, it's harder to spin this as an unalloyed success.
KEITH: Instead, headed into two days of ceremony and bilateral meetings, Trump is emphasizing his relationship with President Xi. Here he was in an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.
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TRUMP: He's somebody I get along with very well. He just wrote me a beautiful letter.
MARIA BARTIROMO: He wrote you a letter?
TRUMP: Yeah. He did. He responded to a letter that I wrote because I had heard that China is giving weapons to - I mean, you're seeing it all over the place - to Iran.
KEITH: Trump said he asked Xi not to supply Iran with weapons.
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TRUMP: And he wrote me a letter saying that, essentially, he's not doing that.
KEITH: While other presidents scolded Xi about human rights and warned him to leave Taiwan alone, Trump has expressed an admiration for Xi and the power he wields within China. Dennis Wilder is a professor at Georgetown University and was a top adviser to President George W. Bush on China policy.
DENNIS WILDER: It's not just hyperbole, but the president is his own China officer. And he believes he understands Xi Jinping. He believes he can negotiate good deals with China.
KEITH: It's not clear what deals may come out of this trip, but Trump is traveling with a very large delegation, including company CEOs. There are widespread expectations that China will announce plans to purchase soybeans and other farm goods, as well as Boeing airplanes. There's also talk of formalizing the trade truce between the two nations by creating a board of trade. And Wilder points out, this is just the first of four potential meetings between Trump and Xi this year, including a state visit for Xi to the U.S. in the fall.
WILDER: What we're seeing here is the setup for a year of intense dialogue to try and reset, to a certain degree, the U.S.-China relationship.
KEITH: That relationship is now vastly different than it was when Trump first visited China as president nearly a decade ago. Ali Wyne of the International Crisis Group says back then, China put on a big display to convince Trump and the U.S. that it should be seen as America's confident and capable competitor.
ALI WYNE: This time around, in the run-up to the meeting between President Trump and President Xi, the Chinese side doesn't have to make that case because U.S. officials are making that case themselves, beginning with President Trump.
KEITH: The White House National Security Strategy released late last year, describes China as a near peer, while the two nations remain locked in a long-term competition for global dominance. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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