Trump-Putin meeting: How is China viewing it? – DW – 08/18/2025

DW

5 hours ago

The US-Russia summit has offered Beijing an opportunity to draw lessons for its own approach toward dealing with disputes with Washington, say experts.
China is closely watching the ongoing US-led diplomatic efforts to stop Russia's war in Ukraine.
After US President Donald Trump held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, White House envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow had made "some concessions," including agreeing that the US could provide NATO-like protection to Ukraine.
Calling it a "historic decision," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the Trump administration's pledge to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is meeting Trump in Washington, D.C. on Monday, along with a host of key European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Ahead of Monday's meeting, China — a close ally of Russia — called for "all parties" to agree to peace "as soon as possible."
"China welcomes all efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis and the contacts between the US and Russia," said Chinese government spokesperson Mao Ning in Beijing.
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Ja Ian Chong, assistant professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told DW that the Trump-Putin summit is "a useful point of departure" for Beijing to look at "how Trump negotiates in high-stakes situations."
Despite the US pledge of security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump, following talks with Putin, appeared to shift his position from pressuring Russia for a ceasefire to urging Ukraine to accept a final peace deal involving territorial concessions.
During the meeting, Putin reportedly offered to freeze most front lines if Kyiv ceded all of Donetsk — an industrial region that is one of Moscow's main targets. Russia currently controls about 70% of Donetsk territory.
Trump later told Fox News that he had advised Ukraine to "make a deal" because "Russia's a very big power and they're not."
Zelenskyy reportedly rejected the deal and wrote on X that Russia's refusal to agree to a ceasefire "complicates the situation."
Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, said "it gives off a vibe that everything's up for negotiation," referring to the Trump-Putin summit.
"That's music to China's ears because China likes to put those political values [and] differences aside when dealing with other countries. And it seems like that's the way Trump likes too," he added.
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However, Chong said, Trump's "inconsistency" also signals unpredictability to China.
"Beijing might also want to treat Trump with some caution because he may take one position in a meeting and then change his mind. And it's not entirely clear in which direction he might change his mind," he said.
The US-Russia summit has offered Beijing an opportunity to draw lessons for its own approach toward dealing with disputes with Washington, including tensions over trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea, say experts.
Ahead of talks with Putin, Trump told media that Chinese President Xi Jinping once told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office.
The Chinese embassy in Washington later reiterated that the topic of Taiwan is "the most important and sensitive issue" in China-US relations, without referring to Trump's statement.
The US and its allies have long sought to deter China from taking military action against Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has threatened to take over by force if necessary. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims.
Chong said Trump's message on the Taiwan issue is probably more geared toward the outside world than Beijing.
"What we've seen that is consistent from Trump so far is that he wants to couch himself as some sort of a peacemaker," Chong underlined.
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Pointing to Trump's apparent willingness to sacrifice Ukrainian territory to reach a peace deal with Moscow, Sung said, "there's no reason for China to want to pivot away from its existing approach on Ukraine policy."
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, China has portrayed itself as a neutral party in efforts to resolve "the Ukraine crisis" but has faced Western criticism over its close ties to Moscow and alleged support for the invasion.
Trump has threatened secondary sanctions on countries that continue to buy Russia's oil, of which China and India remain the two largest buyers.
The US president has announced that Washington will raise duties on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the highest levied on any US trading partner — citing New Delhi's imports of Russian oil.
He has, however, refrained from imposing similar tariffs on China.
"Beijing probably feels it has much more leverage than India," Chong said.
China-US trade talks were recently extended for another 90 days, moving the deadline to November 10, to address issues including market access, rare earth minerals, and chip exports.
Chong said it is unclear how Russia's talks with the US would affect what Beijing and Washington can bring to the table, but he remains "doubtful that China will fundamentally alter its relations with Russia at this point."
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