Xi-Trump summit: can ‘aspirational’ new vision for stability survive strategic rivalry?

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True challenge will be finding ways to ‘cooperate constructively within an inherently competitive relationship’, Chinese analyst cautions

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Alyssa ChenPublished: 4:30pm, 15 May 2026Updated: 5:00pm, 15 May 2026

President Xi Jinping’s new formula for China-US relations is “aspirational”, but the “real test” will be ensuring the two powers can work together despite their deepening rivalry, a leading Chinese political observer has cautioned.

During his much-anticipated summit with US President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said that the two leaders had “agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability”, according to the official Chinese readout.

Building this stability was the overriding priority and their competition must remain controlled, Xi emphasised.

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Zhao Minghao, deputy director of the Centre for American Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University, cautioned about the structural tensions still shaping the relationship beneath the surface.

“This new concept is aspirational, but it is not where the relationship actually is right now,” Zhao said. “The real test is how the two powers find ways to cooperate constructively within an inherently competitive relationship.”

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“Major disagreements – such as US military deployment in the Asia-Pacific – will persist. But Beijing and Washington could pursue practical cooperation in areas like non-sensitive trade and AI safety,” he added.

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