Former Biden official says Trump-Xi summit will go well amid ‘unusual’ circumstances

US President Donald Trump’s focus on short-term deliverables and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bid for bilateral stability are likely to mean an exceptionally amicable summit when they finally sit down, despite “unusual” circumstances brought by the Iran conflict, former senior US diplomat Kurt Campbell said.

Trump and Xi’s upcoming high-stakes meeting in Beijing, which was postponed for at least five weeks from its original March 31 date, will see both leaders be “extraordinarily polite and engaged”, said Campbell, chairman of the Asia Group consultancy and former deputy secretary of state.

China’s measured response to the US-Israel war on Iran reflected Beijing’s priority, namely to maintain a stable relationship with the US, according to Campbell.

Trump was originally scheduled to visit Beijing for a highly anticipated meeting with Xi from March 31 to April 2, during which they were expected to extend the trade truce established in October last year. The US president announced last week that he needed to delay the trip because of the war in Iran, and the summit is currently mired in uncertainty following months of logistical frustrations.

Campbell, speaking on Monday at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, said it would be unusual for an American president to visit another country – in this case China – in the middle of “a pretty intense conflict”, adding that “it looks pretty much like a war to me”.