New York is a speech platform and Washington is a negotiating table: Why did Xi Jinping miss the United Nations and chose to meet with Trump?
In light of a highly turbulent international scene full of open wars, escalating tensions over Iran, energy crises, and a frantic race in artificial intelligence, the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly kicked off in New York, attracting world leaders. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to be absent from this international forum, turning his compass towards Washington at a very sensitive time for relations between the two largest economic powers in the world.
The Chinese move did not mean an absence from New York, as Beijing sent Vice President Han Zheng to participate in general discussions and to meet with the United Nations and state leaders, coinciding with the 55th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China regaining its legitimate seat in the international organization. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Han will present his country’s vision on multilateralism and reform of global governance, which confirms that the Chinese message does not diminish the importance of the United Nations, but rather confirms Beijing’s presence without requiring the personal presence of its president in every forum.
Xi Jinping chose to visit Washington, at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, in a state visit that was his first in eleven years, to devote priority to the US-Chinese bilateral relationship. The upcoming meeting between the two leaders is not a protocol, but rather comes amid a fragile trade and political truce surrounded by thorny issues such as customs duties, rare metals, semiconductors, Taiwan, and policy towards Iran.
The visit cannot be interpreted as a Chinese concession. Rather, Beijing is managing the meeting based on strong pressure cards that include supply chains, market size, and advanced technology, just as Washington has its tools in the financial system and sanctions. In this context, the Taiwanese file is extremely sensitive, as the Chinese ambassador to Washington warned that Taiwan and human rights represent “red lines” for Beijing.
The sector of artificial intelligence and electronic chips occupies a pivotal space at the summit, in light of the American accusations and restrictions imposed on technological exports, which makes any future understanding in this field a management of the dispute, not an end to it. The timing of the visit becomes doubly important as the end of the trade truce approaches on November 10, and the need of both parties for temporary stability to prevent the competition from sliding into open confrontation.
This change does not reflect a decline in the role of the United Nations, but rather an embodiment of the fact that major decisions related to the economy, trade, technology, and balances of power are decided through direct negotiation between the major powers. Thus, Xi Jinping chooses to move from the platform of collective discourse to the power table in Washington, to renegotiate the rules of the new international order, preventing economic and technological competition from turning into a disastrous strategic confrontation.
