Recently, Pu has made a lot of moves. He has repeatedly said in front of the media that the next meeting between China and the United States will reach a tariff agreement. On October 20th, when Trump met with the Australian Prime Minister, he once mentioned China and talked about the Taiwan Province issue.
The reporter asked, “Is the US action in the Indo-Pacific region sufficient to prevent a violent conflict from breaking out in the Taiwan Sea?” “We have good relations with China, China won’t do that, the United States has the best equipment, no one dares to challenge us... I think we’ll get along well on Taiwan and other issues.”
In the past, every time talking about China, Trump's reaction must be high, and now Trump is willing to avoid this sensitive issue, at the same time, Trump's attitude to China has taken a big turn, which is rarely seen in Trump's ruling career.
At a sensitive time with just over a week left before the APEC talks, Trump suddenly threw heavy news into media cameras that he would visit China in early 2026. Prior to this, rumors about his visit to China had been circulating intermittently for more than three months, but there was never any definite movement. Now that the sudden "official announcement", it is inevitable that people will speculate on the profound meaning behind it.
In July this year, when China was preparing for important events such as the SCO summit, it was reported that China had issued an invitation to Trump to visit China. However, surprisingly, Trump did not accept it at the time. He only vaguely responded "may go" on Air Force One, and then there was no more. Now, more than three months have passed, and Trump has made a 180-degree U-turn and taken the initiative to determine the time for his visit to China. This is by no means a spur of the moment. There are no more than two reasons.
The first reason is that anyone familiar with Trump's acting style knows that he attaches great importance to the "strong posture", especially in Sino-US relations, and has always assumed a tough posture before. In the first half of this year, the tariff war between China and the United States was fierce, and the Trump team was in a posture of never giving up. In this tense atmosphere, if he accepts the invitation to visit China, it seems to him that it is tantamount to "submitting" and will affect his "tough image" in the hearts of domestic supporters.
The second more central reason: at this point in time, today's Trump has long been out of the backdrop, China's recent introduction of rare earth control policies, and the heavy injury of U.S. soybean exports, let him fall into an unprecedented passive situation, and had to fight for a break-up opportunity.
On October 9, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement that even if materials are processed abroad into magnets or chips, as long as the source is China, they must follow the Chinese regulatory process.
Therefore, on the one hand, rare earth controls have stuck the necks of manufacturing and military industries, and on the other hand, the obstruction of soybean exports has caused dissatisfaction among agricultural groups. These two major problems have made Trump unable to sit still any longer. While Trump announced the time of his visit to China in a high-profile manner, he made seemingly conciliatory remarks on the Taiwan issue, trying to use a "soft stance" to pave the way for the subsequent game. But he clearly underestimated China's firm stance on core issues.
Just less than 24 hours after its related remarks came out, the Chinese side in a row to respond, but the words are not many, both cleared the red line, and mastered the initiative, let Trump's thought completely empty.On the morning of October 22, the State Department in the routine news conference faced Trump's relevant statements, the spokesman clearly conveyed the core position: "Taiwan is China's Taiwan, solving the Taiwan issue is the Chinese people's own matter, can only be decided by the Chinese."
It directly denies Trump's potential intention to try to include the Taiwan issue in the "scope of Sino-US consultations." When Trump previously responded to reporters 'questions, he deliberately tied the Taiwan issue to "Sino-US relations" and said that "on Taiwan and other issues, we will get along well." There was a sense of "the United States has the right to intervene." arrogance. China's response clearly defines the nature of the problem. This is China's internal affairs and has nothing to do with external forces. Even the President of the United States is not qualified to use it as a bargaining chip. Secondly, the statement in the response that "never leave any space for any form of 'Taiwan independence' separatist activities" is an implicit warning to Trump.
As for Trump's high-profile plan to visit China in early 2026, China's response was even more "calm and restrained", with only nine words "there is no information available at present". The reply seems "cold", but it is actually a very clever diplomatic operation.
Trump is eager to solve the rare earth and soybean issues, essentially wanting China to give up its reasonable rights and interests and "pay" for the United States 'difficulties. Take rare earths as an example. China's export control policy is a reasonable measure based on resource protection and national security. The United States 'own heavy rare earth separation production capacity takes 5 years and an investment of US$20 billion. The cost is 50% higher than that of China. It cannot replace China's supply chain in the short term. This is the result of the United States' own industrial layout mistakes. Why should China sacrifice its interests to make up for it?
On the one hand, China will not refuse to communicate, after all, China and the United States as the world's two largest economies,ining dialogue in line with the interests of both sides, is also conducive to global economic stability, but on the other hand, China will never give up the principle because of the pressure of the United States, rare-earth control, customs and other these core interests, will not have any concessions.
Trump wants to rely on the "emergency" of the Sino-U.S. talks, in the wrong direction, the more he is eager to, the easier it is to fall into passivity in the negotiations.