(By Quratulain Khalid) Introduction: Why the World Watched When Air Force One touched down at Beijing Capital International Airport on the morning of May 13, 2026, it carried aboard not merely the forty-seventh president of the United States but the weight of a global order teetering between managed rivalry and potential rupture. Donald Trump’s state…
(By Faraz Ahmed) When President Donald Trump first visited China in November 2017, the diplomatic theatre was defined by commercial optimism and headline-grabbing memoranda of understanding. Nearly nine years later, his return to Beijing in May 2026 presents a markedly different tableau. The pageantry of state visits remains, but the substance has shifted from expansion…
(By Khalid Masood) I. Lead / Executive Summary The international order is no longer defined by a rigid bipolar divide, but by a complex mosaic of regional powers exercising calibrated strategic autonomy. As President Donald Trump prepares for a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on 14–15 May 2026, the global landscape has…
