Trump recently visited China, and praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling him a “great leader”. This was met with accusations of sycophancy and embarrassment from some who saw it as grovelling to an authoritarian. His earlier campaign vow to ban Chinese purchases of US farmland, has been overturned, and this has angered rural communities and farming advocates who frame the move as a betrayal of one of his ‘core’ promises1.
Trump’s Netanyahu led folly in Iran has left him desperately looking for a way out, and part of the reason for the trip to Beijing is to try to get China to help him find an escape from this debacle. It is almost certain that Xi, and probably Putin, are laughing at the Mango Paedo behind his back2. There was a joke I read this morning stating that Xi and Putin have come to an agreement for joint ownership of Trump.
In addition, Trump was accompanied by a delegation of US CEOs, including Musk, Cook and others which made many commentators suggest the trip is mostly about corporate access rather than national security and geopolitics.
Xi told Trump that trade talks were making progress at the start of the two-day summit but warned that ‘disagreement’ over Taiwan could send relations down a dangerous path to conflict3.
Perhaps one of the funniest bits of this meeting, is when Xi referred to the US as “a declining nation”, which is what Chinese officials have been saying for some time as China closes the gap on the US. It is something I have referred to previously as ‘the great overtaking’ as China, by measures such as GDP, GNP and PPP will soon, or has already overtaken the US4. The funny thing about it was that Trump agreed with Xi, but then tried to slant it to blaming former president Biden in saying “When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct … Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!”5. You have to laugh.
Much of Chinese rhetoric in the past has been about reunification, which if you read much of the western media, is all about invading Taiwan. There are even some commentators who seem to believe that the US failure in Iran makes it more likely that China will invade Taiwan. I suspect this is not so. In fact, I suspect it will make it less likely for four reasons.
1. The asymmetry of modern warfare, where the smaller adversary can defeat the larger, or at least inflict severe costs on them.
2. The ability of China to differentiate itself from the unstable, untrustworthy US regime, to the extent that it is perceived as a stable, and more or less trusted trading partner. Invading Taiwan would destroy that.
3. The self-inflicted economic damage following on from an invasion.
4. The fact that, pursuant to the now abandoned one child policy, over 70% of the members of the PLA are only children6. If many of them were to be casualties, the future of many families would be extinguished completely.
If China surpasses the US, and fixes its appalling human rights record, and becomes democratic (a big ask I know), Taiwan may be more amenable to reunification.
Sources
- https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/insight/trump-faces-backlash-over-china-trip-remarks-and-policy-u-turn/gm-GMFF76D44E
- https://lizadonnelly.substack.com/p/trump-in-china-schoomzing-groveling
- https://www.instagram.com/p/DYT010KjqW2/
- https://blotreport.com/2025/11/14/the-great-overtaking/
- https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5879325-trump-blames-biden-decline-xi/
- https://x.com/WarintheFuture/status/2053971258568745023
Again, well researched and well said. Thank you.