China's Xi Jinping meets Trump for high-stakes summit

Alex Ritzen (0:00)

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritzen and in the early hours of Thursday 24th September, these are our main stories. Donald Trump welcomes China's president Xi Jinping on his first US state visit in a decade. A Gaza reconstruction plan is announced, but it's unclear how it would be implemented. And Britain gains speed in the space arms race. While there are calls for the AI race to slow down.

Also in this podcast, archaeologists discover a wall that shows what Paris may have looked like before the Romans arrived.

Lucy Altenberg (0:43)

This is the first time we found traces of the Gallic people, of Lutetia, as potentially described by Julius Caesar.

Alex Ritzen (0:50)

And France clamps down on Mont Blanc hikers. We start with the two most powerful men in the world coming face to face. China's president Xi Jinping has touched down on American soil for the first time in a decade. In a sign of respect, Donald Trump was on the tarmac of the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to greet him as he stepped off the plane onto the red carpet and was met by an Air Force band.

This marks the start of a three-day visit where the heads of the two global superpowers are expected to discuss issues of significant consequence to the rest of the world, including AI, Taiwan and the Iran War. The two nations have already announced an extension to the truce in their trade tariff war from November to January. For more on what Xi Jinping is looking to get out of the visit, I spoke to our China correspondent Laura Bicker.

Laura Bicker (2:00)

He'll feel far more confident than he did during their first meeting back in 2017

He may even feel that he is at the helm of a country that has been completely transformed. Now remember, China has weathered Donald Trump's trade tariffs. It's no longer completely reliant on the United States for trade. China has also closed the technology gap. And of course, we are seeing China portraying President Xi as a stable global leader. It believes it's gaining influence in comparison to an unpredictable Donald Trump. So what does President Xi want? He believes he'll have a strong hand as he goes into these negotiations and he'll be pushing perhaps to make sure that there's no recurrence of that trade war.

Secondly, I think there'll be a bit of a push to try to access to currently high-end computer chips that come from the US that are restricted. He wants those restrictions lifted. And then Beijing's priority, as always, is to push for an end to arm sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own. So I think those will be his key priorities. But of course, the pressure is on both countries around the debate on artificial intelligence. China has pushed back on any idea of a slowdown, saying that that is a notion to contain China. Instead, President Xi is likely to push for the likes of global governance, global rules. So China doesn't just want to kind of lead the world when it comes to AI technology, it also wants to write the real book.

Alex Ritzen (3:32)

So how is that going to fit in with Donald Trump's wish list?

Laura Bicker (3:37)

I think there is a general consensus that neither want those trade tariffs to start soaring again.

And I think when it comes to Donald Trump's voting base, remember those vast farmlands right across Middle America is part of that. So he will want to be able to give them something ahead of the midterms. By turning around and saying, look, I've got a win, China is going to buy all of these agricultural products, then that is something that perhaps the two sides can agree on. Rare earths is something else that China has a chokehold over. Remember, these rare earth metals are needed for everything, to put in your Bluetooth headphones, to your smartphones, all the way up to weapons and wind turbines. So when it comes to these rare earth metals, China controls 90% of processing. The US wants more access to that, so China can ask for something in return. Now, when it comes to those arm sales to Taiwan, we are hearing, and I can only just stress, this is only reports at this stage, that when it comes to those negotiations, China may push for an end to those arm sales in Taiwan, but in return, say, look, we have influence over Iran. Remember, China buys 80% of Iran's oil. So it will may say, look, we have a friend, we have a partner in Iran, we can lean on to Iran to come to negotiations if you continue to stall arm sales to Taiwan. So I think those are some of the main issues that the two leaders will get into.