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Trump arrived in Beijing last night, beginning a 2-night, 3-day state visit
Summit after welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People... visit to Temple of Heaven, state dinner
Forecast of a shift from a US-centric 'unipolar' international order to a 'bipolar' system
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a summit in Beijing, China, on the morning of the 14th (local time).
President Trump arrived in Beijing the previous night, embarking on a 2-night, 3-day state visit.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold an official welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing around 10 AM today, followed immediately by a summit.
After the summit, they will visit the Temple of Heaven (天壇, an altar where emperors offered sacrifices to heaven) in Beijing together and attend a state dinner in the evening.
This will be the first face-to-face meeting between President Trump and President Xi in approximately six months since they met in Busan on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in October last year.
Their meeting in Beijing will be the first in nine years since 2017, during President Trump's first term.
At today's summit, which is drawing global attention, key bilateral issues and international matters such as tariffs and trade disputes, the situation in Iran, the Taiwan issue, and high-tech controls are expected to be discussed broadly.
The two countries had been in conflict over high tariffs and export controls but are now in a 'truce' state. With growing global economic uncertainty, both sides agree on the need for stable relations, so it remains to be seen whether they can find a certain level of common ground.
For President Trump, tangible results such as soybean, beef, and Boeing aircraft exports are needed ahead of the November midterm elections, and President Xi is also expected to focus on creating a favorable negotiating environment in the strategic competition with the United States.
The Middle East issue is highly likely to be one of the key agendas of this summit.
Amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran, the Iranian nuclear issue and the tense situation in the Strait of Hormuz are expected to be discussed intensively.
President Trump is expected to ask President Xi for an active mediating role regarding the Iranian issue, and China is also emphasizing its role as a mediator in Middle East issues, so attention is focused on what message the two sides will deliver.
On the other hand, the Taiwan issue is one of the areas where the differences in position between the two countries are most sharply revealed.
The United States is expanding arms sales and security cooperation with Taiwan, and China strongly opposes this, defining it as an 'infringement of core interests.'
President Trump mentioned before his visit to China that he would discuss the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan as an agenda item in his meeting with President Xi, but China reaffirmed its opposition to this.
Along with this, global issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) safety, high-tech norms, and climate change response are also of interest to see if they will be on the discussion table.
President Trump also plans to raise the issue of the imprisonment of Hong Kong anti-China journalist Jimmy Lai, but China is objecting, calling it an internal affair.
On the last day of President Trump's visit to China, the 15th, the two leaders are scheduled to continue additional consultations through small-group tea talks and luncheon meetings.
Afterward, President Trump will conclude his 2-night, 3-day visit to China and return home.
Among Chinese experts, there is also an assessment that this summit could be a watershed moment for gauging the possibility of a shift from the existing US-centric 'unipolar' international order to a US-China 'bipolar' system.
If President Trump moves to expand strategic cooperation with China, China's influence in the Asian region will grow further, and the diplomatic calculations of regional countries such as South Korea may become even more complex.
Zheng Yongnian, Dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Campus, said in a recent interview that "(US-China relations) have reached a very important point" and "there is also a view within the United States that compares President Trump's visit to China to that of former US President Richard Nixon, which brought about a US-China détente."
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