Hong Kong [China], November 3 (HBTV): Chinese President Xi Jinping may have emerged as the 'clear winner', for now, after his much-anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump during the 32nd APEC Economic Ministers' Meeting held in South Korea on October 30 — the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders in over six years.
While many observers welcomed the resumption of dialogue between the world’s two leading powers, concerns remain over the Trump administration’s handling of China. The meeting, lasting less than two hours at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, saw Trump receive a warm handshake from Xi, commendation for his role in promoting ‘world peace’, pledges from Beijing to buy American products, and a temporary lifting of rare earth export restrictions.
However, these gestures came at little cost to China. It was Washington that eased its stance first on tariffs, allowing Beijing to claim a symbolic and strategic victory. More notably, Trump confirmed that Taiwan ‘never came up’ during the talks — a silence that carried significant implications amid China’s intensifying propaganda and military pressure on the island.
Xi’s revival of Taiwan’s Restoration Day on October 25, marking Japan’s 1945 surrender of Taiwan, has been widely seen as a strategic assertion of China’s historical claim over the island. Taipei condemned the move as an attempt to ‘belittle our country and fabricate the claim that Taiwan belongs to the PRC’.
Even as Trump avoided the Taiwan issue, discussions on the Ukraine war featured prominently. Xi stated, ‘The world today is confronted with many tough problems. China and the US can jointly shoulder our responsibility as major countries and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the whole world.’
Meanwhile, analysts continue to highlight China’s aggressive military posture around Taiwan. K. Tristan Tang, Associate Fellow at the Research Project on China's Defence Affairs, observed that China’s recent incursions into Taiwan’s airspace and waters ‘mark a shift from politically triggered responses to a sustained military presence’. He added that the PLA’s ongoing operations reflect ‘an evolving doctrine that prioritises operational dominance and training over diplomatic signalling’.
Tang advised policymakers to ‘focus not on political rhetoric but on the PLA’s expanding operational footprint and long-term ambitions’.
Trump’s failure to mention Taiwan and his transactional approach toward Beijing were widely viewed as diplomatic missteps that benefitted Xi. Critics argue that Trump’s focus on short-term trade deals — while ignoring broader strategic realities — projects American weakness and emboldens China’s regional ambitions.
On the sidelines of the APEC summit, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also met Chinese Defence Minister Admiral Dong Jun at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in Kuala Lumpur. Hegseth later described the meeting as ‘good and constructive’, saying he emphasised the importance of maintaining a ‘balance of power in the Indo-Pacific’.
Analysts noted that this phrasing implicitly acknowledges China as a near-peer military rival. Hegseth’s remarks followed concerns raised by US Space Forces Commander Lieutenant General Douglas Schiess, who warned that China’s space capabilities were expanding at ‘an incredible pace’ and posed a major threat to US assets.
In his summary, Hegseth said, ‘The United States does not seek conflict; it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so.’
He later posted on social media that he and Trump agreed that ‘the relationship between the United States and China has never been better’ — a claim that analysts dismissed as overly optimistic.
Despite promises of renewed military-to-military communication channels, Beijing has a history of suspending such lines whenever tensions rise, including after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 2022 visit to Taiwan.
The White House touted the Busan meeting as ‘a massive victory that safeguards US economic strength and national security’, but in practice, China appears to have gained the upper hand. Washington agreed to reduce tariffs by 10%, suspend reciprocal tariffs until November next year, and pause end-user controls on Chinese entities — all while securing limited gains in agricultural exports and rare earth access.
After months of friction, China achieved a diplomatic and symbolic win at APEC. Trump himself rated the outcome ‘a twelve on a scale of ten’. As a result, Xi gained positive publicity, secured a truce on trade, and retained strategic freedom to continue pressuring Taiwan — making the meeting, as the Chinese would say, a ‘win-win’.
(ANI)