Author name: Annie Yen

“President Xi Jinping won’t feel easy about the death of the top leader of Iran,” said George Chen, partner at The Asia Group, noting Beijing’s relatively good relations with Tehran and Caracas. “How can Xi feel everything is normal and alright and be prepared to welcome Trump to visit in [a] happy mood?” he said. Chen added […]

Instability in Iran will likely further entrench China’s relations with Russia, as Xi seeks to lock down oil supplies, Chen added. Both countries over the weekend called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council — of which they are permanent members alongside the US, UK and France — citing what Moscow branded an “unprovoked

“The strikes on Iran accelerate a dynamic already in motion.  There could be a quiet “scheduling postponement” if either side calculates that the optics of Mr. Trump staying home outweigh the optics of showing up in Beijing, said Mr. Lin.

“With the critical Two Sessions next week, the Iran crisis is about the last thing China needs as it gets its house in order,” said Mr. Han Lin, the China managing director for The Asia Group, referring to annual meetings of China’s top advisory and legislative bodies that kick off on March 4 and 5

George Chen is partner and co-chair of digital practice at The Asia Group (TAG), a business and policy consulting firm, and former regional policy director for Meta/Facebook in Asia. Marshall Li is an associate at TAG’s Hong Kong office and a 2025 Schwarzman Scholar. Just one year after China’s homegrown AI model DeepSeek stunned global

Han Shen Lin, China Country director for business consultancy The Asia Group. stated “Mainland China IPO approvals have been episodic and policy-sensitive. While Hong Kong listings of Chinese firms continue to require clearance from the mainland securities regulator, the process is generally more streamlined, Lin said. For China, having a behemoth list offshore provides a

Han Lin, China Country Director stated that “Beijing will push for tariff relief and signal flexibility on purchase commitments. Washington will use 301 investigations as bargaining chips. The real question isn’t what gets announced, it is which investigations get quietly shelved, and what China gives in return.”

In order to maintain that relationship, Trump plans to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2, the first trip by a U.S. president since 2017. But China’s foreign ministry has yet to confirm exact dates for the visit, pointed out George Chen, partner at The Asia Group. “That makes Trump look more desperate to

Kurt Tong, managing partner at Washington-based consultancy The Asia Group, suggested the U.S. was hoping to focus on commercial success stories rather than tariffs and trade control measures. Now, however, he expects Trump to present a plan to Xi for replacing unconstitutional tariffs with equivalent levies in his toolbox, such as Section 122 and Section