Author name: Annie Yen

“Five decades of US-China summits have demonstrated they rarely meaningfully transform the relationship,” noted Han Lin, China managing director at The Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington. “But when handled well, they make a dangerous rivalry less volatile,” he told The Straits Times.

Han Shen Lin, China country director at The Asia Group noted: “The recent invocation of the Ministry of Commerce’s blocking rules – measures allowing the government to instruct firms not to abide by the terms of foreign sanctions – is another way the country is accumulating leverage, and a signal that Washington cannot dictate the

“It will be difficult to get the Chinese deeply involved under any circumstances,” said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy secretary of state during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and chair of The Asia Group. “They will want to be careful because they can see political quicksand as well as the next guy.”

“China enters this summit with genuine leverage but also genuine urgency,” Han Lin, China country director at Washington-based consultancy The Asia Group, told AFP.

“The American collective psyche – with the exception of President Trump and a few business people – appears to have decided that there’s something inherently threatening about Chinese investment,” says Kurt Tong, a former US consul general in Hong Kong and managing partner at advisory firm The Asia Group.

“The priority at this point is having the summit take place, having the two of them meet face-to-face,” said Alison Szalwinski, vice president at the Asia Group. “And ensuring that U.S.-China relations are on stable footing. That’s the priority, even as Iran continues to loom.”

“What you’ll see is very deliberate warmth – firm handshakes, careful smiles,” said Han Lin, China Country Director, The Asia Group. “A good analogy is their Mar-a-Lago meeting in 2017. It’s an almost theatrical mutual respect between two men who each genuinely believe they’re representing history.”

Kurt M. Campbell is Chairman and Co-Founder of The Asia Group. He served as Deputy Secretary of State and Indo-Pacific Coordinator at the National Security Council during the Biden administration.  

Trump appears to be courting investments and seeking deals, while China hawks are pushing a harder line on Beijing, George Chen, a partner at The Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm, told DealBook. Still, many analysts say Xi has the upper hand. Watch Taiwan, a close U.S. partner. Xi wants to strike deals with Trump,