US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (local time) that Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised not to provide military equipment to Iran.
Trump, who is in China for a bilateral summit with Xi Jinping, told Fox News in a clip of the interview: “He said he’s not going to give them military equipment. That’s a big statement. He said it today,” adding that Xi “said it strongly.”
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly promised not to provide military equipment to Iran. Donald Trump said that Xi Jinping had made that promise emphatically during their meeting.
Xi highlighted Beijing’s economic ties to Iran, particularly its significant oil purchases. He indicated that China would like to continue buying oil from Iran.
Yes, Xi Jinping offered to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He expressed a desire to be helpful if he could help in any way.
Trump and Xi agreed that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was highlighted as a top priority.
Both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open and unmilitarized. China has said it is not in favor of militarizing the strait.
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However, the US president also noted that his Chinese counterpart had emphasized Beijing’s economic ties to Iran, particularly oil purchases. China buys “a lot of their oil” from Iran, Trump said, adding that Xi Jinping said “they would like to continue to do that.”
Trump’s visit to China
Trump made the remarks during a two-day visit to China to meet with his counterpart. The meeting was originally scheduled for April, but was postponed due to the US-Iran war, which began in late February.
At a lavish state banquet attended by senior officials and business executives, Xi told the audience that Sino-US relations were the most important in the world, Reuters reported.
“We have to make it work and never screw it up,” Xi said before guests tucked into a 10-course dinner that included lobster soup, Peking roast duck and tiramisu.
The two leaders’ summit comes nearly six months after they first met following Trump’s return to the White House last year. The meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping took place in October in Busan, South Korea, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The two leaders’ first meeting comes as bilateral relations between Washington and Beijing are strained following a tariff war that began after the US president announced staggering tariffs last April.
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Trump Asks China for Help to Convince Iran?
The US president, who is said to be facing a tough time with Iran because it refuses to back down on its nuclear ambitions in exchange for a deal with Washington, is expected to encourage China to persuade the Islamic republic to strike a deal to end the conflict, according to reports. The development comes as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies traveled in pre-war times. But Reuters, citing analysts, said Xi may not be willing to push Tehran hard or end support for its military, given that Iran is a strategic counterweight to Beijing’s US.
Trump says Xi offered to help reopen Strait of Hormuz
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said his Chinese counterpart had also offered to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the war began in late February.
Trump said: “President Xi would like to see a deal done. He would like to see it done. And he offered, he said, if I can be of any help at all, I’d like to help him.” He added: “Look, anybody who buys that much oil obviously has some kind of relationship with them, but he said, ‘I’d like to help if I can be of any help.’ He would like to see the Strait of Hormuz open.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Trump’s stance. In an interview with CNBC, he said he believed Beijing would “do everything in their power” to help open the strait, which was “very much in their interest.”
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Trump will seek tangible trade wins at the summit with Xi
Trump will aim for trade wins as he heads to final meetings with Xi Jinping on Friday at a superpower summit overshadowed by the Chinese leader’s uncharacteristically sharp warning about Taiwan, AFP reported.
The US president hopes to secure trade deals in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, aerospace and artificial intelligence (AI), but will also seek geopolitical wins in areas including the Middle East war.
On Friday, Trump is likely to steer discussions toward trade, joined by several business leaders, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, figures to represent the types of deals the US leader wants to secure.
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Marking the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade, Trump invited his Chinese counterpart and his wife Peng Liyuan to visit the White House on September 24. If Xi agrees, the September visit will be the third meeting in less than a year between the two world leaders, a move that could signal a possible resumption of ties.
