U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a bilateral summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. It was Trump’s first visit to China since 2017. It was also the first time since 2001 that a U.S. president has visited China and not stopped in the capital of at least one U.S. ally in the region, whether Japan, South Korea, or Australia.
The two sides agreed on the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, and Beijing reaffirmed its hawkish stance on Taiwan. By comparison, neither Trump nor Xi made any public mention of North Korea, implying that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons are no longer a pressing agenda item for Washington and Beijing.
The United States cast the first day of talks positively, citing progress on economic cooperation and energy. According to the White House, Xi “expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait [of Hormuz]” and both sides agreed to work toward deeper commercial engagement.
Touting Xi as a “great leader,” Trump called the meeting “the biggest summit ever” and said the relationship between China and the United States is “going to be better than ever before.”
Xi offered a more cautionary tone and brought up one of the most famous international relations theories – the Thucydides Trap, which posits that a rising power and a declining power are likely to go to war. “Can we meet global challenges together and provide greater stability for the world?” Xi asked Trump.
However, despite his gestures toward Trump to cooperate in various fields, Xi clearly showed the red line that Trump cannot cross during the meeting.
“Safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the U.S.,” Xi was quoted as saying in the readout posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. If the issue of Taiwan is handled improperly, “the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” according to Xi.
Trump did not publicly respond to questions on Taiwan after the summit, and the White House made no mention of the subject in its statements.
According to Chinese state media, the two leaders also discussed the Middle East, Ukraine, and the Korean Peninsula, though no details of those discussions were reported.
For South Korea, the summit between Trump and Xi changed little but it clarified the pressures Seoul now faces.
On Taiwan, Seoul has long relied on strategic ambiguity as it neither endorses Beijing’s territorial claims nor explicitly commits to playing a role in any contingency involving the island. That posture has held but it is growing harder to sustain as Washington shows less tolerance for equivocation among its allies. If the Trump administration were to press Seoul for clearer political alignment or seek operational flexibility for U.S. Forces Korea in a cross-strait scenario, South Korea would face a choice with no clean answer.
The China-U.S. discussions on the Strait of Hormuz created a more immediate pressure point. South Korea is among the world’s largest importers of Middle Eastern oil and a China-U.S. consensus in favor of keeping the strait open serves the economic interests of South Korea. However, the same alignment may accelerate Washington’s push for South Korea to provide a military contribution to the multinational mission securing the waterway.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made that ask explicit during his meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back at the Pentagon on May 11, calling on Seoul to stand shoulder to shoulder with its allies. Ahn said South Korea would review ways to contribute in phases. With the U.S. and China now publicly aligned on Hormuz, Seoul’s room to stay on the sidelines has narrowed.
The Korean Peninsula itself received little attention, which is another concern for Seoul. The White House made no mention of it while Chinese state media simply noted that the two leaders discussed the issue. For the Lee administration, which has signaled interest in resuming the stalled inter-Korean dialogue, the silence carries real consequences as it strongly implies that the North’s growing nuclear threats are no longer a priority for Washington and Beijing. Any meaningful engagement with Pyongyang requires at minimum tacit support from both Washington and Beijing, but the Trump-Xi summit offered no indication that either is inclined to provide that support.
Some analysts had hoped that Trump’s offer to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would result in talks on the sidelines of his visit to Beijing, but no such signs have been detected.
Consequently, the summit between Trump and Xi clearly showed the future scenario that Seoul needs to manage: aligning with Washington on Taiwan while seeking ways not to damage ties with Beijing. It will also be a major task for Seoul to create momentum for reviving the deadlocked talks between the United States and North Korea, and the inter-Korean dialogue, at a time when the leaders of the U.S. and China are paying little attention to the Korean Peninsula.
