The Liberty Daily 
(The Epoch Times)—U.S. President Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing this month to meet with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. Although the official agenda of the summit hasn’t been announced, they are expected to address two main issues—the situation in the Taiwan Strait and conflicts in the Strait of Hormuz—according to an insider close to the Chinese regime’s diplomatic circles who spoke with The Epoch Times.
Trump’s visit to Beijing is slated for May 14–15. The original meeting date in March was postponed due to developments in the Iran war.
The president said on Monday that he will talk to Xi about issues related to trade and technology.
Beijing has not yet released an official agenda for the Trump–Xi summit. On May 1, Fu Cong, China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, stated at a media briefing at the United Nations in New York that if the Strait of Hormuz is still blocked at the time of the meeting, the issue of navigation is highly likely to become a central focus of the talks.
Soon after the Iran war began on Feb. 28, the Iranian regime blocked the Strait of Hormuz, firing on commercial cargo ships and oil tankers, disrupting global logistics. When the U.S.–Iran negotiations failed to reach an agreement on April 12 because of the Iranian regime’s refusal to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons development, the U.S. Navy implemented a blockade against Iranian ports, dealing a serious blow to the CCP due to its energy reliance on the Middle East.
The oil supply from the Middle East to China, including cheap sanctioned Iranian oil, has been cut off during the U.S. blockade. China buys more than 80 percent of Iran’s shipped oil, and more than 40 percent of China’s crude imports pass through the strait, according to public data.
Currently, approximately 70 Chinese cargo vessels and 20,000 crew members have been stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, says Shang Qi, a Chinese scholar with close ties to the CCP’s diplomatic system who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal from the Chinese regime.
“During the meeting, the CCP will demand that Trump lift the blockade—primarily to alleviate the pressure placed on China by the crude oil shortage,” Shang told The Epoch Times, referring to internally planned topics for the summit.
“China is currently facing its most severe energy crisis in decades,” he said, “Recently, a large number of flights in China have been forced to suspend operations due to a lack of aviation fuel; Chinese airlines are operating at a loss, and gasoline prices are rising.”
In late April, U.S. government sanctioned private Chinese “teapot” refineries that purchase sanctioned Iranian oils as part of the Trump administration’s ramped up efforts to cut off the Iranian regime’s oil revenue.
China invoked anti-sanctions law to counter U.S. sanctions on May 2.
“The United States has intensified sanctions against Chinese refineries ahead of the Trump–Xi summit, while the CCP has issued countermeasures. Both sides are thereby accumulating bargaining chips for the meeting, yet the underlying structure of their strategic confrontation remains unchanged,” Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times.
Taiwan Issue
Regarding Taiwan, Shang said that, as in the past, the CCP consistently views the island as the greatest obstacle in U.S.–China relations.
“During the summit, the CCP will once again place the Taiwan issue at the very forefront of the agenda. For the CCP, the Taiwan issue is no longer merely a bargaining chip, but rather a so-called ‘red line,’” he said.
“While the 2025 Busan summit sidestepped the Taiwan issue, the CCP’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs this time has made it clear that they ‘intend to discuss the Taiwan issue’ and ‘expect a clear stance of the United States to be articulated.’ It remains to be seen what Trump will say when the time comes.”
Shang said he is confident that Trump is a master negotiator who “prevails over his adversaries through face-to-face negotiations.”
The last time Trump met Xi was on Oct. 30, 2025, at the Busan Summit in South Korea. It was a pivotal meeting between Trump and Xi, marking their first face-to-face interaction in over six years. The Taiwan issue was not brought up in that meeting.
The CCP will propose to Trump the resolution to these issues that the Chinese regime would prefer by offering to increase China’s imports from the United States in exchange, Shang said of the regime’s planned negotiation strategy for the upcoming summit. “The CCP’s leverage remains the purchase of U.S. agricultural products and large passenger aircraft.”
The Chinese regime considers Taiwan its territory and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of annexing the self-ruled island nation by force.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly said there’s no change in Taiwan policy, continuing their security guarantee to maintain Taiwan’s sovereignty and independence, while routinely condemning China’s pressure on Taiwan.
Shi Chao, a Chinese scholar specializing in geopolitics, who used a pseudonym out of fear of reprisal, noted that the U.S. stance regarding the Taiwan Strait issue has never changed.
“It is precisely because of this that, for decades, Taiwan has been able to maintain its security and sustain its economic development,” he told The Epoch Times. “Xi Jinping’s hope—that by purchasing American products he could induce Trump to make a definitive statement—is, quite frankly, nothing more than wishful thinking. Moreover, it does not align with U.S. national interests.”
The United States has heavily relied on Taiwan for advance semiconductors, which is critical for U.S. defense, AI, and automotive industries. Taiwanese firms produce over 90 percent of the world’s most advanced logic chips. Taiwan is also an important part of the first island chain that contains the communist China’s maritime expansion.
Shang said that Beijing’s current strategy is to leverage the constraining effect of the situation in the Middle East—thereby pinning U.S. attention on that region—while simultaneously maneuvering to secure greater latitude regarding the Taiwan issue. This approach constitutes a form of synchronized pressure.
Shi said the CCP’s suppression of Taiwan and its apparent move to further pressure the United States on the Taiwan issue constitute “a miscalculation of the current situation.”
“Amidst the current environment of domestic political instability and economic downturn, the CCP military has lost the capability to launch an amphibious invasion across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
“Although the United States remains occupied with the situation in the Middle East and faces pressure on multiple fronts, ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its primary adversary has consistently been the CCP. Consequently, its military forces and weaponry are predominantly geared toward countering the CCP. Under these circumstances, Trump’s visit to Beijing was more likely an occasion to deliver a warning in person,” Shi said.
Wang Yibo and Reuters contributed to this report.
