China’s Wang calls 2026 a ‘big year’ for U.S. ties as Iran war looms over Trump-Xi summit

Beijing sets a careful tone

The question about war came midway through the ritual.

Inside Beijing’s cavernous media center on March 8, Foreign Minister Wang Yi sat behind a long green table for his annual news conference during China’s National People’s Congress. After queries on global governance and the Global South, a CNN correspondent asked how the escalating U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran might affect President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Beijing later this month.

Wang did not mention Trump by name or recite specific dates. Instead, he doubled down on two messages that underscored the stakes of a fraught year.

“Two thousand twenty-six is a big year for China-U.S. relations,” Wang said, according to an official English transcript. If both sides “treat each other with sincerity and good faith,” he added, they could make it “a landmark year for the sound, steady and sustainable development” of the relationship.

Moments later, speaking about the same conflict raised in the question, Wang described the ongoing campaign of strikes on Iran as “a war that should never have happened” and called for an immediate halt to military operations.

The juxtaposition captured the tension China is trying to manage: condemning one of Washington’s largest military operations in years while simultaneously portraying 2026 as an opportunity to stabilize ties with the United States.

Trump’s trip and the stakes for Beijing

The careful optimism is calibrated around a three-day Trump visit to China scheduled for March 31 to April 2, the first presidential trip to Beijing since Trump’s 2017 state visit. The White House has billed the trip as an official visit and a summit with President Xi Jinping. Chinese officials, while avoiding specifics, say the “agenda of high-level exchanges is already on the table.”

For Beijing, the meeting is central to the “big year” Wang described.

“The interactions between the two heads of state have played a strategic role in steering the course of bilateral relations,” Wang said. He called the leaders’ contacts a “strategic safeguard” that has helped bring the relationship “back on an even keel” after a period of severe turbulence.

The summit is expected to tackle a crowded list of disputes that have defined Trump’s second term: sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on Chinese imports, increasingly restrictive U.S. controls on advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence chips, and longstanding tensions over Taiwan and maritime security in Asia.

The White House last month said Trump will travel to Beijing following stops in Tokyo and Manila. His aides have emphasized trade as a primary focus. People familiar with the preparations say both governments are also working on potential understandings over technology exports and guardrails on military competition, though major breakthroughs are viewed by analysts as unlikely.

Iran conflict shadows the agenda

The talks will unfold against the backdrop of the U.S.-led war with Iran, which erupted after coordinated U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian military and government targets in early 2026. The conflict has rattled global oil markets and heightened risks in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane through which much of the world’s crude oil passes.

Iran has threatened shipping and carried out limited attacks on vessels linked to the United States and its partners, while reportedly allowing most Chinese tankers to pass. China is Iran’s largest oil customer and a key economic partner under a 25-year cooperation agreement.

At his news conference, Wang avoided naming the United States directly when criticizing the Iran campaign but left little doubt about his target.

“This war benefits no one,” he said. “We call for an immediate stop to the military operations to prevent further escalation and spillover.”

Wang added that the world should not “revert to the law of the jungle” and urged all sides to return to negotiations under the framework of the United Nations. He repeated China’s longstanding position that the U.N. Security Council—where Beijing holds a permanent seat—should play a central role in resolving major security crises.

Those comments mirror China’s broader effort to present itself as an advocate of U.N.-centered multilateralism and a counterweight to U.S. use of unilateral sanctions and force. They also reflect Beijing’s practical concerns: prolonged conflict in Iran threatens a critical source of its oil imports just as its economy struggles with slower growth and weak domestic demand.

A measured message to Washington

Wang’s remarks on the United States struck a more restrained tone.

He argued that China and the United States “should not turn their back on each other, still less slide into conflict or confrontation.” Neither side, he said, can “remodel” the other—a phrase Beijing often uses to criticize U.S. efforts to reshape China’s political and economic system.

“The only right choice is to respect each other, coexist in peace and pursue win-win cooperation,” Wang said.

Chinese state media amplified those lines. China Daily called 2026 a “big year” for China-U.S. ties and highlighted Wang’s appeal to “lengthen the list of cooperation and shorten the list of problems.” Commentaries stressed that expectations for progress now depend heavily on whether Washington “works toward the same goal.”

Tariffs, tech controls and Taiwan

The summit follows a fragile trade truce negotiated by Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025. That deal paused some of the highest U.S. tariffs and included a Chinese pledge to boost purchases of American agricultural products, including soybeans.

Trump’s broader tariff program—unveiled in 2025 and branded as “Liberation Day” tariffs by the White House—imposes a baseline 10% duty on most imports and higher bands on targeted economies, with China facing some of the steepest rates. U.S. businesses and farmers have lobbied for relief, while Trump has used the measures to argue he is defending American manufacturing and reducing dependence on Chinese supply chains.

Technology is another central fault line. The United States has imposed a series of export controls intended to curb China’s access to cutting-edge chips used in artificial intelligence and supercomputing. In recent months, the Trump administration has moved to restrict shipments of advanced AI accelerators while allowing limited exports under heavy taxes and licensing conditions. Industry groups say the shifting rules create uncertainty, while national security officials warn that loosening controls could accelerate China’s military and intelligence capabilities.

Beijing has responded with its own export restrictions on critical minerals and by doubling down on efforts to develop domestic alternatives to U.S. technology. Both governments describe their actions as defensive, but the result has been a gradual decoupling of key parts of the global tech supply chain.

Taiwan remains the most sensitive security issue. Xi has called the island’s status the “most important and sensitive issue in China-U.S. relations,” and Chinese officials routinely characterize it as a core interest on which there is little room for compromise. The United States, under the Taiwan Relations Act, continues to provide arms and maintain unofficial ties while acknowledging Beijing’s position that there is only one China.

In recent months, U.S. officials have delayed announcing or delivering several large arms packages to Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter, in part to avoid provoking Beijing ahead of Trump’s Beijing trip. At the same time, the administration has pushed forward with trade and investment deals to expand Taiwan’s semiconductor production in the United States, deepening economic links that irritate Chinese leaders.

The White House has not publicly tied those decisions to the summit. But Wang’s emphasis on the importance of “strategic guarantees” at the top level underscores how both sides see leader-to-leader diplomacy as a crucial safety valve in managing an increasingly complex rivalry.

What to watch for

Chinese officials have rejected the idea that Beijing and Washington should co-manage global affairs as a “G2,” saying instead they support an “equal and orderly multipolar world.” Wang reiterated that position, saying that “over 190 countries” should have a say in shaping international rules—a nod to China’s efforts to lead coalitions in the developing world.

For now, markets and regional governments are watching for signs that the Trump-Xi summit will produce more than warm rhetoric. Analysts say tangible outcomes could include a formal extension of the current trade truce, clearer parameters on certain technology exports, and renewed commitments to military hotlines and crisis communication channels.

Even modest agreements could ease short-term tensions as the Iran conflict and volatility in the Strait of Hormuz weigh on the global economy. But expectations are tempered by the depth of mistrust and the breadth of disputes, from tariffs and technology to human rights, cyber activity and military maneuvers in the South China Sea.

As Wang wrapped up his nearly two-hour appearance in Beijing, he returned to the language of opportunity and risk.

“If the two countries can work in the same direction,” he said, “they can not only do many beneficial things for themselves, but also provide more public goods for the world.”

Whether 2026 becomes the “landmark year” he described will depend on what is agreed—or not—when Trump’s plane touches down in Beijing at the end of March, with a live war in the Middle East and a long list of unresolved grievances following close behind.