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Chapter 1: What are the key details of Trump's upcoming visit to China?
Now, US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing later today for the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade. Among those joining the president on the trip are Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk. John Everard is a former British ambassador to North Korea and Belarus. He joins me on the line now. Morning, John.
Good morning.
The last presidential visit was actually by Donald Trump himself in 2017. This is a very different trip to China.
Yes, it is. I mean, China has changed a great deal in the meantime.
Chapter 2: How has China's political landscape changed since Trump's last visit?
The whole moon music is different. In 2017, China was falling over itself to prove that it was the equal of the United States, both politically and economically. Now, it's much more subdued. China doesn't feel the need to prove anything anymore. It thinks that, firstly, Donald Trump has stumbled badly over Iran. That was a grave mistake, say the Chinese.
And secondly, that with the new Chinese advances in robotics, AI, everything, that China has demonstrated already to anybody who wants to listen that it's up there with the United States, nothing more to prove.
OK. Now, you mentioned Iran, and obviously that's going to be one of the many issues on the agenda. I mean, can we expect anything from China in terms of help? President Trump says he doesn't need their help. But is there any prospect of any help from Beijing?
That's one of the big questions that we just don't know the answer to yet. Certainly, the American delegation will, behind the scenes, despite what President Trump said, hope that China will use its massive influence over Iran. Remember, it buys over 90 percent of Iran's oil to persuade the Iranians to stand down a bit. But the Chinese are deeply reluctant to get involved in the Middle East.
They see all kinds of risks. In particular,
to their their reputation and they know that the middle east is a cauldron near you it's very difficult to do anything there without upsetting somebody so they they will probably stand back a bit the big question is donald trump goes to china wanting all kinds of things wanting china in particular to increase its imports of american agricultural products and america
China going to ask for in return? And the big question here, I don't think so much is Iran, I think it's Taiwan.
OK, and what, I mean, China is obviously looking for some progress from the Americans. America says it's not in favour of Taiwanese independence, but the Chinese want them to say they're opposed to it. Is that it?
Yes, that's right. They want to try to get Donald Trump to shift his position. Now, two big elements here. Firstly, Donald Trump, as we've found out over his entire presidency, is not very good at sticking to scripts. And if the US president goes off script, says something different from the current U.S. line, that sticks. That's now the new U.S. diplomatic position.
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