Xi Jinping, explained.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome China's President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan as they arrive at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland for a state visit, 23 September 2026 (Daniel Torok/Official White House Photo)
China’s deference to history and protocol masked a calculated bid for narrative dominance.
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Trump rolled out the red carpet – and handed Xi a narrative winTrump rolled out the red carpet – and handed Xi a narrative win
Although Xi Jinping’s trip to Washington produced plenty of fanfare (Opens in new window) – including the lavish welcome dinner (Opens in new window) – the main message sent to the world about US–China rivalry was that there are no prospects of narrowing the big differences.
Xi’s visit prolongs a pause in the trade war at least until January. This truce (Opens in new window) appears to be more important for Trump, who faces the November midterm elections and reportedly has no plan how to end the protracted war with Iran. Xi, meantime, appears confident in his ability to use economic coercion against Washington, if necessary.
Xi gave pompous speeches, for example “about working with President Trump to steer the great ship of China-US relations toward steady and sustained progress”, and about offering two giant pandas to the US “as ambassadors of friendship between the two countries”.
However, these speeches masked his hard-hitting message to Trump.
Xi sought to leave an impression during every opportunity to demonstrate China’s superiority over the United States. And Trump helped him with this. China immediately published Xi’s entire remarks (in the White House (Opens in new window), and over dinner (Opens in new window)), including his talks with Trump (Opens in new window), while the Trump administration only released a brief summary (Opens in new window) after Xi left Washington, giving Chinese leader the upper hand in the narrative tug-of-war.
Posing for a photo on the West Colonnade overlooking the White House Rose Garden 24 September 2026 (Molly Riley/Official White House Photo)
Xi’s real message to Trump operated on multiple levels.
China’s president repeatedly stated that both countries are superpowers (Opens in new window) – and while that message was not new, saying it in Washington without even the slightest challenge from his host was remarkable.
Xi also described China and the United States as great powers in AI (Opens in new window) and should therefore take responsibility for managing artificial intelligence to ensure people’s safety. Trump dismisses threats from AI as a hoax (Opens in new window), ceding Xi an advantage in terms of public perception. Never mind what Xi really intended when he spoke about controlling AI – Beijing has been training its LLM models according to its own ideology (Opens in new window).
Xi also reminded Trump that China had coined the term “constructive relationship with strategic stability (Opens in new window)” to describe US–China relations. China was pleased that Trump had accepted this term when he visited Beijing in May and this same slogan appeared in a White House communiqué (Opens in new window). In short, Xi illustrated China’s ability to exercise power over the discourse (Opens in new window). And it does not matter that no one yet knows what this slogan means.
Xi illustrated China’s ability to exercise power over the discourse, and it does not matter that no one yet knows what this slogan means.
Even Xi’s use of historical examples (Opens in new window) appeared intended to demonstrate China’s superiority in terms of culture, science and craftsmanship between China and the United States – referring to revolutionary leader George Washington’s collection of Chinese porcelain, citing a history of trade reaching back more than 200 years to the beginning of US independence. He spoke of Chinese soldiers rescuing American pilots 80 years ago during the war with Japan via a dangerous air corridor over the Himalayas (known as the Hump Route (Opens in new window)) but ignored US support to China at the same time. And Xi’s focus on ping-pong diplomacy in the 1970s (Opens in new window) and praise for the “political wisdom” of Mao and Nixon (Opens in new window) could be interpreted as an appeal to Trump to be wiser and more predictable.
Xi did not hesitate to mention China’s red lines (Opens in new window), such as opposing Taiwanese independence. He also expressed (diplomatically) his anger that Chinese companies are not treated fairly by the United States. The implication was that Trump’s foreign policy agenda makes a list of global problems longer instead of shortening it.
Although a display of pomp, Xi seized the opportunity to promote his own agenda. And in this narrative battle, Xi has emerged the winner.
About the author
Justyna Szczudlik
Justyna Szczudlik, PhD, is the Deputy Head of Research and a China analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM).
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