President of the US, Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for his first visit to China since 2017, amid a summit between the two leaders, which is taking place amid uncertainties regarding the ongoing war against Iran and new threats from Tehran over its nuclear capabilities.
Along with Trump on his tour was a group of top officials of America, such as Elon Musk of Tesla and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.
A meeting between the two leaders has been arranged for Thursday, which would be followed by a banquet and lunch on Friday.
The visit follows comments by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that Iran was “frighteningly close” to having a nuclear weapon, despite the American military campaign to set back Tehran’s program earlier this year.
Iran was only weeks away from enriching uranium to weapons grade, but a months long weaponisation process would still follow, Wright said.
Iran has around 12 tonnes of uranium of various enrichments, some of it near to but not yet at the 90% level usually considered weapons grade, analysts say.
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Some independent nuclear experts have questioned the pace of the timetable presented by US officials in public comments.
Iran the unwanted guest at the summit
When Trump spoke with reporters before leaving Washington, he said he was looking forward to having “a long talk” with Xi regarding Iran, although trade was still his top agenda.
Despite the U.S. insistence, China, being the largest importer of Iranian oil, appears reluctant to exert more pressure on Iran.
Earlier last week, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi met with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Beijing and reemphasized the “strategic partnership” between the two nations.
The peace negotiations appear to be making little progress.
Trump dismissed Iran’s latest proposal as totally unacceptable and stated that the agreement reached by mid April is on massive life support.
According to an insider from a neighboring country, who attended the discussions, further diplomatic progress is only possible if the Beijing conference achieves success.
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Australians are following developments very closely as they know that almost one fifth of all oil produced passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
But analysts warn that Beijing is unlikely to rely on Tehran without concessions, most likely on Taiwan, where a $14 billion US arms package remains unsigned by the President.
“It’s going to be hard to get the Chinese deeply involved under any circumstances,” said Kurt Campbell, a former US deputy secretary of state and now chair of The Asia Group.
For Trump, the trip is shaping up to end with warm photo opportunities but few firm gains on the issue that has come to define his second term.
