The Week: A Historic Summit

• Yes, Virginia, there is a state constitution.

• It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has sought, from the outset of his second term, a face-to-face summit in Beijing with China’s Xi Jinping. At the top of his agenda has been his dissatisfaction with the Sino-American trade regime. But the meeting, which was initially slated to take place in April, had to be postponed while the war with Iran was ongoing. They are meeting in May, even though the war continues. Our hope is that Trump will persuade the CCP to release Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai. Reportedly, though, Trump has a new agenda item atop his list: resolving the war with Iran to his satisfaction. He seeks to enlist Xi to that end, thereby handing the Chinese Communist Party an imprudent amount of influence over American strategic affairs. Xi’s regime played a leading role in negotiating a thaw in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023, and he will doubtless take the opportunity to augment China’s influence in the Middle East. Why Trump would conclude that Beijing has America’s best interests in mind is anyone’s guess.

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• Yes, Virginia, there is a state constitution.

• It’s no secret that President Donald Trump has sought, from the outset of his second term, a face-to-face summit in Beijing with China’s Xi Jinping. At the top of his agenda has been his dissatisfaction with the Sino-American trade regime. But the meeting, which was initially slated to take place in April, had to be postponed while the war with Iran was ongoing. They are meeting in May, even though the war continues. Our hope is that Trump will persuade the CCP to release Hong Kong dissident Jimmy Lai. Reportedly, though, Trump has a new agenda item atop his list: resolving the war with Iran to his satisfaction. He seeks to enlist Xi to that end, thereby handing the Chinese Communist Party an imprudent amount of influence over American strategic affairs. Xi’s regime played a leading role in negotiating a thaw in relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023, and he will doubtless take the opportunity to augment China’s influence in the Middle East. Why Trump would conclude that Beijing has America’s best interests in mind is anyone’s guess.