China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi Signals U.S. Leader Meeting Preparations Amid Global Tensions

BEIJING – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized the advantages of engagement with the United States on Sunday, signaling that preparations are underway for a planned meeting between the two nations’ leaders, despite ongoing disagreements over the war in Iran and existing trade tariffs.

"The agenda of high-level exchanges is already on the table," Wang stated to reporters in Mandarin Chinese, as per an official translation. "What the two sides need to do now is make thorough preparations accordingly, create a suitable environment, manage the risks that do exist and remove unnecessary disruptions." He further elaborated, "Turning our backs on each other would only lead to mutual misperception and miscalculation. Sliding into conflict or confrontation would only drag the whole world down."

Following an in-person meeting in South Korea during the autumn, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump had indicated plans to visit each other’s countries. President Trump is scheduled to visit China from March 31 to April 2, which would mark the first visit to the country by a sitting U.S. president since 2017. However, Beijing has yet to officially confirm the exact dates for President Trump’s visit. While Wang did not provide further specifics, he acknowledged that the high-level interactions between the U.S. and Chinese presidents have "provided [an] important strategic safeguard for the China-U.S. relationship to improve and move forward."

The potential for this high-level engagement comes amidst a complex geopolitical landscape. Some analysts have expressed skepticism regarding the timely execution of President Trump’s visit, particularly given the recent joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran that resulted in the death of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the U.S. apprehension of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

While Wang did not directly reference these specific individuals or events in his remarks to the press on Sunday morning, he reiterated Beijing’s consistent calls for a ceasefire in the conflict in Iran. "This is a war that should not have happened," he asserted. "It is a war that does no one any good." Official readouts indicate that Wang has engaged in phone calls with at least seven foreign ministers, including those of Russia, Iran, and Israel, since the commencement of the joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran on February 28.

Wang was addressing reporters on the sidelines of China’s eight-day annual parliamentary meeting, which is slated to conclude on Thursday. This gathering in Beijing involves China’s top leaders, including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and Vice Premier He Lifeng, meeting with delegates from across the nation.

The bilateral discussions are taking place in the context of a fragile truce reached between the U.S. and China in October, which involved a reduction in tariffs on each other’s goods to below 50% for a period of one year. This followed a period where both countries had escalated duties to well over 100% during the peak of tensions in the spring of the previous year.

In response to a question concerning President Trump’s framing of U.S.-China relations as a new "G2" to lead the world, Wang pushed back against the notion that two countries alone would dictate global affairs, instead advocating for a multipolar world order. Without explicitly naming the United States, Wang cautioned against the imposition of "tariff barriers and pushing [for] economic and technological decoupling." He metaphorically described such actions as "no different from using kindling to put out a fire," warning that "You will only get burned."