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Orange Wang

The Communist Party’s flagship newspaper has set the tone for the summit on Thursday between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, calling for the two sides to build on the “constructive strategic stability” agreed upon during Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.
The Chinese government and state media have also spelled out Beijing’s “red lines” days ahead of the high-stakes event in Washington.
The leaders will provide “strategic guidance” on how the two powers can develop a stable relationship during this week’s summit, according to a front-page article published by People’s Daily on Tuesday.
The newspaper cast a rosy light on the state of China-US ties since the pair last met in Beijing during Trump’s trip four months ago, saying that “positive factors in bilateral interactions continue to increase”.
Xi’s visit this week was aimed at “keeping the positive momentum going”, an article posted on Chaoyang Shaoxia, a social-media channel widely believed to be affiliated with the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Tuesday.
The ministry, Chinese embassies and ambassadors posted videos in both Chinese and English to social media on the same day, highlighting that “from Beijing to Washington DC, the China-US relationship must stay on course towards constructive strategic stability”.
At their meeting in Beijing, Xi and Trump agreed to maintain “constructive strategic stability”, although the White House statement on the talks also included demands for “fairness and reciprocity”.


Beijing has emphasised that the concept should guide China-US relations “over the next three years and beyond” – at least for the remainder of Trump’s presidency – which state media echoed on Tuesday.
“Managing ‘Taiwan independence’ is a key part of building constructive strategic stability between China and the US,” the front-page People’s Daily piece noted, framing pro-independence forces as a “common enemy” of Beijing and Washington.
“The US side must handle the Taiwan question with the utmost caution and take concrete action to safeguard the stable development of China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” it warned.
It also reiterated that “Taiwan, democracy and human rights, the path and system and development rights are four red lines” for Beijing.
“These are the guardrails and safety net for China-US relations,” said the article, which was published under the byline Guo Jiping, a pen name used for editorials which express the Communist Party’s position on major international matters.
Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China and has not renounced the use of force to bring the self-governed island under its control.
Most countries – including the US – do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The South China Morning Post reported on Saturday that the Trump administration was considering delaying the announcement of major arms sales to Taiwan until after November’s Apec summit in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The Guo Jiping commentary also argued that having the “correct strategic understanding” was “the first button that must be fastened properly” in building China-US constructive strategic stability.


It warned that the “root” of all problems in the bilateral relationship laid in the “cold war mentality” that was held by some in the US, who viewed China as a strategic rival and hyped a narrative of strategic competition.
“China and the US should be partners and friends. This is what history teaches us, and what reality requires,” it added.
The Chaoyang Shaoxia article said China’s overall national strength had “comprehensively” increased since Xi’s last state visit to the US in 2015 and its international influence had also “steadily” risen.
After more than a decade, Washington should understand that “cooperation between China and the US is greater than their differences, there is no benefit in testing each other’s limits, and decoupling from China is even less realistic”.
Instead, the US was urged to “focus on expanding cooperation” to “serve the common interests” of both nations.
Chinese policymakers have repeatedly said in recent months that the concept of “constructive strategic stability” does not deny the existence of competition between China and the US but calls for avoiding full-scale confrontation and maintaining dialogue to manage the countries’ differences.


“Economic and trade cooperation should continue to serve as the ballast and propeller” of the relationship, the Guo Jiping article said.
As part of preparations for the summit, the two governments held a round of trade talks in New York over the weekend. They also agreed to establish dialogue on artificial intelligence (AI), while China stepped up purchases of US soybeans in recent days. Beijing on Tuesday added two drug precursor chemicals to its export control list for North America.
Chaoyang Shaoxia said that as the technology continued to develop, competition between China and the US in AI was inevitable.
“But what we seek is a race in which each side strives to catch up and both advance together, rather than a life-or-death, zero-sum struggle that exhausts both sides,” it said.
“By steadily breaking the ice and building trust in lower and moderately sensitive areas, even if each step forward is only a small one, we can help ensure that global technology advances in a positive direction and benefits the world.”
The People’s Daily article called on the two countries to make AI a “new frontier” of cooperation.
It also said China-US constructive strategic stability would serve as a “precious public good” for the whole world.


The article described the concept as a solution to the “Thucydides Trap”, a theory in which a rising power and an established hegemon are destined for war. The article described the theory as being rooted in a zero-sum narrative of confrontation drawn from the West’s history.
“Major powers bear special responsibilities,” it said.
“China and the US should … properly handle regional flashpoints with a strong sense of responsibility by doing more practical and beneficial work to promote peace talks and reconciliation,” it added, referring to conflicts in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and tensions on the Korean peninsula.
It argued that the back-to-back multilateral gatherings of the Apec summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 summit in Miami in December would create a “historic linkage” to help coordination between the two countries.
“The year 2026 is bound to be a historic and landmark year in China-US relations that carries forward the past and ushers in the future,” it said.


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Front-page article in Communist Party’s top newspaper also lays out Beijing’s red lines for the relationship


Front-page article in Communist Party’s top newspaper also lays out Beijing’s red lines for the relationship.


Constructive. Strategic. Stability. Chinese state media spell out Xi-Trump summit aim

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Front-page article in Communist Party’s top newspaper also lays out Beijing’s red lines for the relationship

Front-page article in Communist Party’s top newspaper also lays out Beijing’s red lines for the relationship