As media reports pointed to a possible late-September summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, an international panel of scholars, analysts, and commentators gathered for a webinar, “The Xi Jinping – Trump Summit,” to examine what the meeting might mean for US-China relations and for the wider world. Among the contributors was Helena Cobban, President of Just World Educational, whose remarks touched upon history and connected the webinar directly to some of the world’s most pressing conflicts, including the war on Iran and the Israeli genocide on Gaza.

John Ross

The webinar was organized by the No Cold War campaign and supported by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. Chaired by John Ross, a Senior Fellow at Chongyang and a member of the No Cold War International Collective, the event brought together speakers from China and from Western and Global South countries alike. As Ross explained in his opening remarks, the meeting was intended to give those both inside and outside China who oppose escalating tensions—whether “hot” or “cold” wars—a chance to compare analyses of the international situation ahead of the anticipated summit.

Wang Wen

Framing the discussion, Ross noted that the world is passing through what President Xi has called “changes unseen in a century,” pointing to the rise of the Global South, strains within the US-China-Russia relationship, stagnation in Europe, and recent US actions against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and Gaza. The panel’s opening speaker, Wang Wen, Dean of the Chongyang Institute, argued that the US-China relationship could, for the first time in history, escape the so-called “Thucydides Trap” through what he called “constructive strategic stability.” He described an emerging multipolar order built on parallel, non-aligned relationships among China, the US, and Russia, arguing that US global hegemony is giving way to a more regional role.

Biljana Vankovska

Biljana Vankovska, Professor Emerita at Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, spoke from what she called the perspective of a “non-global power” in the Balkans. She gave a mixed assessment of progress since the two presidents’ May meeting, welcoming Trump’s restraint on Taiwan arms sales and improving US public opinion of China, while pointing to an “implementation gap,” the collapse of a joint G20 finance ministers’ communiqué, and US threats of secondary sanctions against countries cooperating with Iran. She called the summit a “stress test” for constructive strategic stability and asked what the new paradigm means for smaller states and for crises in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Liu Zhiqin

Liu Zhiqin, Senior Research Fellow at the Chongyang Institute, argued that much of today’s geopolitical tension stems from Second World War crimes that were never fully accounted for, warning in particular about Japanese remilitarization and what he described as US ambivalence toward it. He pointed to China’s visa-free travel policy as evidence of confidence, warned against rhetoric from US politicians that he likened to the 1930s, and urged the US to focus on its own domestic problems rather than confrontation with China.

Anlin Wang

Anlin Wang, co-chair of the International Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America, described the organization’s growth and its members’ opposition to escalating US-China tensions. He linked rising US militarism to worsening conditions for the American working class, cited polling showing a decline in the number of Americans who view China as an enemy, and stressed the importance of people-to-people ties and US-China cooperation on climate change.

Yi Yingnan

Yi Yingnan, Research F...

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