Xi Jingping is purging China's military and bringing in generals willing to go to war, a move that could lead to an invasion of Taiwan and drag the United States into World War III, military analysts say.

The Chinese leader, seen by many as a dictator, is “trying to gain control of the military,” Gordon Chang said Business insiderand added, “I think he thinks he needs officers who are willing to actually fight.”

According to Chang, author of “China Is Going to War,” Xi feels “many Chinese general officers do not want to fight.” As a result, he said, the Chinese premier sees “a force led by an officer corps that is ambivalent about waging war.”

China claims Taiwan as its territory, and fears that Xi is planning an invasion have grown in recent years, despite increasingly hostile rhetoric and simulated blockades of the island.

Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take over what it considers a breakaway province, and Xi has said unification is inevitable.

But Beijing has also been involved in low-level clashes with India along their shared border, as well as disputes over nearby islands with Japan and the Philippines.

Since coming to power in 2012, he has overhauled Beijing's armed forces with a series of reforms, while also downsizing its workforce, improving military-civilian cooperation and reforming its structure.

On December 29, 2023, he dismissed nine senior positions in one go, a move that analysts and US intelligence agencies said was aimed at rooting out corruption.

However, Chang told Business Insider that this theory misses the point, “because if that were the case, they would all be fired.” Instead, he believes it was likely that the fired officers were reluctant to go to war.

He pointed to one example: that of General Liu Yazhou of the Chinese Air Force, who warned of an invasion of Taiwan.

In February 2022, he received a suspended death sentence.

Joel Wuthnow, another China expert, told Business Insider that the moves suggest Xi is “concerned about the quality of the people and equipment he has invested in over the past decade” and that he fears he can't keep up with his military to trust.

The publication reported that the nine dismissed commanders had been involved with China's Rocket Force, which Wuthnow said would play a crucial role in any military campaign ordered by Beijing.

China has been hostile towards its neighbors in recent years.

The country has become increasingly aggressive in the South China Sea, with its navy often coming into close contact with Philippine ships.

Beijing has also clashed with Japan over the disputed Senkaku Islands, using its fishing industry to bolster its claim.

There have also been clashes between China and India in the Galwan Valley in the Himalayas, with soldiers clashing with melee weapons.

In 2021, China admitted to losing four of its troops in the fighting.

But perhaps the most worrying flashpoint is Taiwan, which just elected a new president on Saturday who opposes reunification with China.

China has breached Taiwan's air defense zone several times in the past five years, raising fears that an invasion was on the horizon.

In September 2023, the Chinese military conducted its largest maritime war simulation ever. It included Beijing's aircraft carrier Shandong and 20 other warships, while dozens of warplanes breached Taiwan's airspace.

However, Chang told Business Insider that it is impossible to predict where a major flare-up might come from first, even as Xi has stepped up his bellicose rhetoric.

In his New Year's address to the nation, Xi said that China “will certainly be reunited, and all Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common goal and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” '

Xi also reportedly informed US President Joe Biden of his intention to take Taiwan.

However, Wuthnow said the Chinese leader is now more cautious about any attack on the island following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He has seen how the war has shaken fellow autocrat Vladimir Putin's position in Russia and the West's support for Kiev.

But Chang warned that all the conditions are in place for World War III, with the conflict spreading across multiple fronts around the world.

He pointed to Ukraine, Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, along with military activity in the Read Sea (and fears that the conflict could spread into the Middle East), as well as uprisings in Africa.

Chang pointed to the build-up to World War II in the 1930s and how separate wars coalesced into what we now know as World War II.

“The same dynamics exist today, and it is entirely possible, and some people might even argue that it is likely, that these will culminate in a global conflict,” he said, predicting that a conflict in East Asia would challenge Western countries carried away.

Elon Musk on Thursday proudly tweeted a photo of himself meeting China’s president, Xi Jinping – as the embattled X owner struggles to deal with yet more concerns about antisemitism.

Musk on Wednesday agreed with an antisemitic post on his platform, and then attempted to backtrack – insisting he did not support the genocide of Jewish people.

In further bad news, it emerged that his platform had paid $3,000 in ad revenue shares to a virulent antisemite, Hitler fan and Holocaust denier.

On Wednesday night, Musk put aside the increasing scandal to meet Xi at a reception after the APEC summit, in San Francisco.

The billionaire businessman told a reporter for Xinhua, Chinese state media, that he was looking forward to seeing Xi.

‘I’m looking forward to meeting – we met once briefly. I look forward to meeting again,’ he said.

He said he was ‘very happy with our work in China,’ adding that he hoped ‘China and the United States can work together for regional prosperity of the world.’

Musk’s Tesla in 2018 became the first-ever foreign carmaker to be invited to set up a factory in China without having to answer to a Chinese partner, and now nearly 30 percent of all car sales in China are EVs, versus 7 percent in the United States.

Musk has made several trips to China – most recently in June – but it is not known when he met Xi. Bill Gates was granted a rare audience with Xi this summer, which analysts said likely rankled Musk, who is highly competitive with and critical of Gates.

Tesla China on Thursday said that Xi, in his meeting with Musk, ‘expressed support for Tesla’s development in China.’ 

The statement continued: ‘Musk expressed his gratitude and appreciated the rapid development of China’s new energy vehicle industry. 

‘This year marks Tesla’s tenth year of entering the Chinese market. The Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory, which was completed and put into production in 2019, has become Tesla’s important global production base and export center.’ 

The statement continued with a declaration that Tesla was ‘honored to participate in the rapid development of China’s new energy vehicle industry’.

It concluded: ‘We will continue to work hard in China and look forward to developing together with the industry in new energy vehicles, energy storage, artificial intelligence and other fields.’ 

After meeting Xi, Musk did not stay for the $40,000-a-head dinner at the Hyatt Regency, hosted by Joe Biden in Xi’s honor.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also skipped the dinner, as did executives from Pfizer, Nike and FedEx – but Apple’s Tim Cook and the executive vice president of Boeing, Stanley Deal, stayed for the full event.

Musk’s meeting on Wednesday was overshadowed by the row about his support for antisemitic remarks.

A watchdog, Media Matters for America, also dug out claims that a Holocaust denier going by the handle ‘@bambkb’ had made $3,000 from his rhetoric on X.

Musk reacted angrily to the expose, tweeting on Thursday night: ‘Media Matters is an evil organization.’

Media Matters said that @bambkb – whose real identity is unknown, but who has almost 100,000 followers and tweets under the name ‘Kevin – WE THE PEOPLE- DAD’ – had tweeted a deluge of pro-Hitler content.

Musk sparked the firestorm on Wednesday by responding to a man who posted a screed on X criticizing a Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism campaign video.

In the video, a father is seen talking to his son about the online hatred the son has spewed, and calling him out for his rhetoric.

The X user dismissed the video, writing: ‘Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. 

‘I’m deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s*** now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don’t exactly like them too much. 

‘You want truth said to your face, there it is.’

Musk, who has 163 million followers, replied: ‘You have said the actual truth.’ 

DailyMail.com has approached Musk for comment, and received in reply: ‘Busy now, please check back later.’ 

He then, two hours later, wrote: ”decolonization’ necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person.’

Musk, who has been strongly criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and Israel’s Foreign Ministry for his past remarks, then attacked the ADL, accusing them of racism.

‘And, at the risk of being repetitive, I am deeply offended by ADL’s messaging and any other groups who push de facto anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism of any kind,’ he said. 

‘I’m sick of it. Stop now.’

Musk has a long history of toying with dog-whistle rhetoric about Jewish people, in particular George Soros, who enraged him in May by selling his Tesla stock.

He has also angered people with his response to the Israel-Hamas war.

In the days after the October 7 Hamas terror attack, Musk was forced to delete a tweet which recommended an anti-Semitic account and a promoter of debunked videos as reliable sources of information about the attack on Israel.

The owner of X, formerly Twitter, faced a furious backlash after telling his 159 million followers that the accounts @WarMonitors and @sentdefender were ‘good’ for ‘following the war in real time’.

Followers were quick to point out that @WarMonitors has repeatedly used ‘jew’ as a term of abuse on the platform, telling New York supermarket boss Avi Kaner to ‘mind your own business, jew’.

‘The guy Musk recommends for information on the Israel-Hamas escalation is an anti-Semitic account with a history of spreading misinformation,’ wrote Sam Sokol of Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

On Halloween, Musk appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and repeated his long-running criticism of the 93-year-old billionaire financier, who has for decades backed progressive causes.

Soros, born in Budapest, survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and moved first to Britain, then the United States, where he began his hugely-influential philanthropy.

‘He is I believe the top contributor to the Democratic party,’ Musk told Rogan. ‘The second one was Sam Bankman-Fried.

‘And Soros, he had a very difficult upbringing.

‘In my opinion, he fundamentally hates humanity. That’s my opinion.’

Musk said that he was deeply opposed to Soros’ work backing progressive district attorneys, who pursued policies he saw as soft on crime.

‘He’s doing things that erode the fabric of civilization – getting DAs elected who refuse to prosecute crime,’ said Musk.

‘That’s part of the problem in San Francisco, and LA, and a bunch of other cities.

‘So why would you do that?’

Rogan asked: ‘Is it humanity, or just the United States?’

Musk said it was worldwide.

‘He’s pushing things in other countries as well,’ Musk said.

Musk told Rogan that he thought Soros was ‘basically a bit senile at this point’ – in June, Soros handed control of the Open Society Foundations and the rest of his $25 billion empire to his 37-year-old son, Alex.

The foundation directs about $1.5 billion a year to groups such as those backing human rights around the world and helping build democracies. Alex Soros said he intends to broaden the foundation’s priorities to include voting and abortion rights as well as gender equity.

Musk said that the elder Soros had been ‘very smart’ in using his money to achieve his goals.

‘He’s very good at arbitrage – famously he shorted the British pound,’ explained Musk. ‘That’s how I think he made his first money.

Arbitrage is spotting value for money that other people don’t see.

‘And one of the things he noticed is that the value for money in local races is much higher than it is in national races.

‘The lowest value for money is a presidential race. Then next lowest value for money is a senate race, then a congress.

‘And when you get to city and state district attorneys the value for money is extremely good.’

Musk said that Soros found he could help push policies he approved of through local officials.

‘Soros realized that you don’t have to actually change the laws,’ said Musk.

‘You just need to change how they are enforced.

‘If nobody chooses to enforce the laws, or the laws are differentially enforced, then its like changing the laws.’

Musk has previously compared Soros to X-Men supervillain Magneto – a character who manipulates the world and thinks mutants should be in charge, rather than humans.

He made the comments on Twitter in May, following the announcement that Soros’ investment fund had dumped all of their Tesla stock.

Musk responded to Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, saying that the South African-born billionaire was not anti-Semitic, but his remarks were dangerous.

‘He’s arguably the most influential person on the planet controlling what’s essentially our public square. When he repeats conspiracy theories, that feeds the extremists,’ said Greenblatt.

Musk replied: ‘In fairness, I must concede that Joel has a good point and I will endeavor to be more thoughtful in the future.’

He later corrected to tweet to say ‘Jonathan’.  

Musk continued: ‘Comic book analogies are obviously imperfect, to say the least. 

‘Just because George Soros can bend metal using his mind doesn’t mean he’s Magneto!! 

‘Anyway, my actual concern with Soros is that he has funded so many politicians & DAs who are soft even on violent crime, which has caused great damage to many cities imo. 

‘Also, while I am very much in favor of expanding legal immigration, we must have some vetting of who comes in, so that we do not allow dangerous felons to prey upon innocent Americans.’

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Musk’s tweet had resulted in a flood of conspiracy theories and the hashtag ‘The Jews’ to trend on the platform. 

Researchers at Beam found in June that the volume of English-language antisemitic tweets has more than doubled since the company’s takeover by Musk in October 2022.

He has threatened to sue anti-hate organization the Anti-Defamation League for defamation after it criticized him for allowing anti-Semitic content online, but insists he is ‘against antisemitism of any kind’.

In September, Musk swerved the topic of antisemitism when asked during an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

Musk would not address the subject, other than saying he is ‘obviously against’ it, and spoke more generally about ‘hate speech’ instead.

Netanyahu previously came to Musk’s defense when he was accused of repeating discriminatory tropes about Jewish financier George Soros, and he introduced the subject by reiterating his belief that the Tesla boss does not have anti-Jewish views. 

‘I know of your opposition to anti-Semitism,’ the 73-year-old Israeli leader told Musk during their X discussion. 

‘All I can say is I hope you can find within the confines of the First Amendment the ability to stop not only antisemitism or roll it back as best you can, but any collective hatred of a people that anti-Semitism represents.’ 

‘Obviously I’m against anti-Semitism,’ Musk replied. ‘I’m anti really anything that promotes hate and conflict, and I’m in favor that which helps society and takes us to a better future for humanity collectively.’

But the SpaceX boss didn’t elaborate or defend his controversial statements about Soros, including comparing him to X-Men supervillain Magneto – a character who manipulates the world and thinks mutants should be in charge rather than humans.

Speaking about hate speech generally on X, he said: ‘It’s important to bear in mind that there are 550 million monthly users, now maybe going to 600 million monthly users. 

‘On any given day there’s on the order of 100 to 200 million posts to the system. This is a lot of material. Some of those are going to be bad. 

‘You can’t police it in advance, but you can say after the fact ‘oh it’s getting reported as hate speech’. 

‘We’re not going to promote speech because that’s probably not what people want to hear.’ 

Xi Jinping has said that China Xi Jinping has said that his country has not occupied a single inch of foreign land.

San Francisco: Amid the ongoing border dispute between India and China, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was on a visit to the United States, said on Thursday that his country “has not provoked conflict or war, nor occupied an inch of foreign land.” He emphasized: “For the seventy years and more since the founding of the People’s Republic, China has not provoked conflict or war, nor occupied an inch of foreign land.” Xi made the comments at a dinner on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, hours after his much-anticipated talks with US President Joe Biden, where both leaders vowed to reduce tensions between the two countries.

The event was organized by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations and Xi’s comments on the border dispute were closely watched given concerns about China’s tightening scrutiny of business and bilateral tensions.

During the crucial meeting, US President Joe Biden expressed concern about human rights abuses in China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.

“President Biden underscored the universality of human rights and the responsibility of all countries to fulfill their international human rights obligations. He expressed concern about human rights abuses in the People’s Republic of China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong,” the White House readout said.

Significantly, Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a conflict at Galwan in 2020, coinciding with the outbreak of the pandemic. Since May 2020, when Chinese troops attempted to forcefully change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, both sides have maintained positions near Patrol Point 15. This location became a flashpoint of tension after the clash in Galwan.

Since 2020, over 50,000 Indian soldiers have been deployed at outposts along the LAC, equipped with sophisticated weapons to deter any unilateral attempt to change the status quo on the LAC.

(With input from the agency)

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met Wednesday for the first time in more than a year for high-stakes talks to try to bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Their meeting began with a warm, double-folded handshake and a declaration from Xi that the world is “big enough” for both countries, despite years of escalating rhetoric and provocations.

“The China-US relationship has never been smooth sailing and always faces all kinds of problems,” Xi said through a translator when he met Biden.

‘Yet, despite all the twists and turns, things have continued to move forward. For China and the United States, turning their backs on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one party to reform the other, and conflict and confrontation have dire consequences for both parties. Planet Earth is big enough for the success of the two countries.”

In his own remarks, Biden called for a “frank exchange.”

“I have always found our discussions simple and frank and have always appreciated them,” Biden told Xi, after years of telling the American public that he has spent more time with the Chinese autocrat than any other American leader.

Biden said it was “of utmost importance that we truly understand each other, from leader to leader.”

And he underlined the risks if the two states fail to find a way to get along despite their differences.

‘We must ensure that competition does not lead to conflict and we must deal with that competition responsibly. That is what the United States wants and what we intend to do. I believe this is what the world wants from both of us, too,” Biden told his counterpart.

“We have a responsibility to our people and the world to work together when we believe it is in our best interests. The critical global changes we face, from climate change to narcotics to artificial intelligence, require us to work together,” Biden added.

Xi, 70, told the 80-year-old Biden: “We bear heavy responsibilities for the world and for history.”

The leaders of the two superpowers are trying to prevent their nations’ rivalry from devolving into conflict at the crucial summit.

Biden and Xi stood face to face on a red carpet at the Filoli estate on the outskirts of San Francisco, where they are expected to talk for at least three hours.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have been seriously strained since the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina in February.

The leaders of the world’s two largest economies faced growing concerns over issues including Taiwan, Beijing’s actions on South China Sea sanctions, espionage, trade and human rights.

They are also expected to cover a wide range of topics, including the flow of fentanyl into the US, climate change and the accelerating use of AI.

The two men were due to meet in person before a wide-ranging meeting with their top security aides, following tense clashes over China’s spy balloon, fierce economic competition and China’s embrace of Moscow amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Their meeting was months in the making, following high-level visits from Biden’s Cabinet and even a trip to Beijing by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who hosted a major fundraiser for Biden on Tuesday evening.

It’s the kind of personal diplomacy Biden stands for, with a leader who has unique power over a government that is flexing its resources around the world.

As Biden faces a divided and often dysfunctional Congress amid his own weak poll numbers, his top advisers believe Xi has the ability to deliver, if only on some of the modest agreements on fentanyl and climate that have emerged were leaked prior to their seat. down.

“I would say that what we have seen in recent years is the accumulation of power in the person of basically one man: President Xi,” a senior administration official told DailyMail.com during a briefing with reporters ahead of the high resolution. top on the stakes.

“What that means is that, yes, other forms of diplomacy are important. But honestly, if you really need to do serious diplomacy, it has to happen at the top. So the stakes really couldn’t be higher. Yes, I think if you want to effect change in the system, if you want to make a clear effort to influence certain outcomes, it comes down to a meeting like tomorrow.

Their meeting takes place on a 654-acre estate amassed by a California mining and gas baron.

The grounds of the Filoli estate include five “distinct ecosystems,” hiking trails, a fruit orchard, redwoods and natural springs.

The Georgian Revival style mansion has a total of 54,000 square feet.

The house was built in 1917 and opened to the public in 1975.

It is a far cry from the streets of San Francisco, where the APEC summit is taking place. That was the scene this week of ongoing street protests by pro- and anti-CCP demonstrators, along with people expressing their views on Israel’s war on Gaza.

Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is banned in China, also line the streets.

The crucial talks took place after San Francisco’s homeless were cleared from the streets in a massive cleanup operation to prevent Xi and other dignitaries from seeing the misery.

But there was still chaos around the summit.

As the meeting began, hundreds of anti-oil and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with riot police outside the APEC summit.

The protesters, dressed in yellow vests, tried to stop people from attending the CEO summit at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, but were unsuccessful as attendees entered through an alley.

“We will not allow genocide to be normalized,” an organizer with the No APEC Coalition told the San Francisco Standard.

The protesters chanted, “Biden, Biden tells lies, you don’t care if the planes die,” and “shut down APEC.”

It is precisely the kind of overt political expression that Chinese authorities have repeatedly tried to suppress for years, including during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, even as they opened up their economy to become a dominant global power, which after the US comes in second.

The White House said on a call with reporters on Wednesday that Biden would raise human rights issues with Xi, as he always does during such meetings.

The group protests against corporate profits, environmental abuse, poor working conditions, the war between Israel and Hamas and capitalism in general.

The secluded Filoli estate is a historic mansion with lush gardens located in the coastal region of Northern California, approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Set in 650 hectares of grounds, it features an English Renaissance-style garden.

Officials hope the peaceful environment will contribute to a positive outcome of the talks.

“If they like each other, they’re likely to trust each other and communicate better,” says Jeremi Suri, a professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin.

“In a place like this they can escape, not only from the media, but from many other things that fuel conflict.”

The secluded Filoli estate is a historic mansion with lush gardens located in the coastal region of Northern California, approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco.

Set in 650 hectares of grounds, it features an English Renaissance-style garden.

Officials hope the peaceful environment will contribute to a positive outcome of the talks.

“If they like each other, they’re likely to trust each other and communicate better,” says Jeremi Suri, a professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin.

“In a place like this they can escape, not only from the media, but from many other things that fuel conflict.”

Joe Biden told reporters that his goal in the meeting with Xi will be to normalize channels of communication between the two powers.

San FranciscoAs US President Joe Biden prepares for a rare summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas are setting the stage for high-stakes discussions, CNN reported on Tuesday. The US and Chinese delegations plan to address the wars between Ukraine and Russia as well as Israel and Hamas during their extended meetings in the San Francisco Bay Area, as stated by senior administration officials. During these talks, President Biden and his national security advisers will try to convince their Chinese counterparts that it is in Beijing’s interest to use its influence over Russia and Iran to contain both conflicts.

The increased global unrest adds significance to Biden’s face-to-face meeting with Xi, their first in a year. As Biden grapples with two conflicts that could define his presidency — Ukraine and Israel — he is eager to strengthen ties with Beijing and avert more crises during his term. The US has tried to manage expectations for the talks, highlighting the restoration of military communications and an agreement to curb narcotics trafficking as key objectives, as reported by CNN.

Biden told reporters on Tuesday that his goal in the meeting with Xi will be to normalize channels of communication between the two powers. When asked how he defined success before Wednesday’s sit-down, Biden said: “To get back on a normal course.”

He said the meeting also included “corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to each other when there is a crisis, and making sure that our militaries are still in contact with each other.” According to CNN, US officials have been working to restore military communications with China after Beijing severed them last year.

One of the top U.S. concerns is the risk of miscalculations or miscommunication leading to conflict, including in the tense waters around Taiwan and the South China Sea.

“As I told you, we’re not trying to break away from China,” Biden said, adding: “What we’re trying to do is change the relationship for the better.”

He also cited China’s relative economic weakness and said he wanted to strengthen a relationship that would benefit both countries.

Even as he puts pressure on Xi, Biden’s own ability to shape the wars in the Middle East and Europe is being tested, as Israel continues its assault on Gaza’s civilian infrastructure and Ukraine struggles to regain territory after the Russian invasion of twenty months ago. His staunch support and billions of dollars in military aid from the United States have not necessarily led to the results U.S. officials had hoped for, as reported by CNN.

“The president will underscore our desire that China make clear in its growing relationship with Iran that it is essential that Iran does not seek to escalate or spread violence in the Middle East,” a senior administration official said.

President Biden will make clear to President Xi that Iran is acting in an escalating, destabilizing manner that undermines stability in the broader Middle East and is not in the interests of China or any other responsible country, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday in the White House. House.

While putting pressure on Xi, Biden wants to shape China’s role in the Middle East, urging them to use their alliance with Iran to de-escalate. China’s growing influence in Iran, driven by shared antipathy toward the United States, presents an opportunity for diplomatic intervention.

The US president is expected to emphasize the need for China to play a constructive role in calming tensions in the Middle East. This includes an emphasis on refraining from provocative actions by Iran, with a clear message that the United States is prepared to respond immediately to such actions.

The outcome of the summit will determine the success of Biden’s efforts to enlist China’s support in managing global conflicts. The challenge lies not only in pushing for restraint in the Middle East, but also in influencing China’s position towards Russia, especially regarding its economic alliance and role in the conflict in Ukraine. The complex geopolitical dynamics will test the diplomatic skills of both leaders during this crucial summit.

To that end, U.S. officials plan to “underscore our continued concerns about these provocations against China, which remains a substantial patron of North Korea,” during Wednesday’s meetings, CNN reported.