Under the title “Russia, Iran, China: Emerging triangle of power”, I wrote last week on the repercussions and ramifications of the Israeli-American war against Iran. I quoted Brazilian journalist and political activist Pepe Escobar in a talk discussing just that topic with Judge Andrew Napolitano on his podcast Judging Freedom. As I was turning this page, I came across rich material that is witness to the unfolding events: a live testimony by Mr Escobar who was then in China during President Trump’s recent visit there. Mr Escobar reported on the visit in real time, and was again hosted by Judge Napolitano on his podcast on 14 May to shed light on the visit. The episode was titled: “A babe in the woods in Beijing”. Following are the main highlights of the interview.
Judge Napolitano: You have a great article out, ‘The emperor has no clothes and no cards’… Did Trump get the message when he arrived in Beijing and was met by a functionary as opposed to President Xi himself who showed up to greet President Putin when he arrived in Beijing?
Mr Escobar: “I’m not sure he got the message, Judge. And by the way, when Kim Jong-un visited Beijing, not only Xi Jinping went to the airport to personally greet him, but then they were on a convertible limousine in a convoy crossing all the way to the Great Hall of the People.”
Did Trump’s advanced people know that President Xi would not be there? Because the look on Trump’s face was one of pain, consternation, and surprise as he got to the tarmac.
“Well, this was maybe the first stage. And the Chinese as masters of protocol, they delivered a message right from the start. This summit for us is about protocol, it’s a diplomatic thing. We had already agreed. It was already postponed, but it’s not essential for us. During the day, in the reception at the Great Hall of the People and then in the State dinner, Xi went out of his way to be extremely courteous and polite and that is what really registered with Trump… Trump and the whole delegation, they were like mesmerised by the whole thing. And of course, this is 5,000 years of diplomacy.”
Back to the title of your piece, what cards does Trump have to play?
“None absolutely. He wanted to extract some sort of promise by Xi that he would put pressure on Tehran to get the American demands approved by Tehran… This was a non-starter; there is a strategic relationship very very sophisticated between Iran and China. It goes even beyond their 25-year-400-billion-deal in terms of exchanging infrastructure for energy. [Iranian Foreign Minister] Abbas Araghchi was here two weeks ago, and he talked to [Chinese Foreign Minister] Wang Yi; this was after he had been to St Petersburg and talked to Lavrov and Putin… This is a series of interlocking strategic partnerships and the interests of Beijing, Moscow and Tehran in terms of Eurasia integration and in terms of building a new system of international relations are completely contrary to what Trump is trying to do… With one sentence, he [Xi] characterised everything that is happening now as ‘fluid and turbulent’, which is a very elegant way of putting it, especially concerning the war on Iran.”
But you know, the President’s a little dense. Did he get that as a criticism of his attack on Iran?
“It’s hard to tell… But I’m sure he got the next thing that Xi said because it was very direct. Xi asked rhetorically, ‘can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides trap and create a new paradigm of major country relations?’ Xi proposed a new vision for the US-China relationship for the next three years, in his own words. So he’s thinking in terms of until the end of the Trump term and it’s absolutely startling; three words: ‘constructive, strategic stability’… Will the Trump administration, Trump himself, understand what that means? We cannot be so sure. Because the empire of chaos by definition is not constructive, it’s destructive… They’re not strategic; they are basically tactical… And it’s not about the stability; it’s about chaos and of course, even including nowadays piracy. So how they can understand conceptually what Xi is trying to say. He added something very important ‘cooperation’. He talked about cooperation with the US as the ‘mainstay, his own term for healthy stability’ even with competition within proper limits… But can we possibly imagine that the Trump administration is going to do a 180-degree turn and start this new relationship for the next three years?”
So what does Trump want?
“He wants Xi to have the Chinese buy more American soybeans and more and more Boeing jets… It’s possible that the Chinese as a goodwill gesture will buy more Boeings, and also of course I would say could even as a personal gesture buy more soybeans because they know that the MAGA base in the Midwest will like it and Trump in electoral terms will also like it.”
So what does Trump hope to accomplish other than these sales of soybeans and jets? Are they gonna sell rare earths or are they gonna say ‘hey Donald get rid of the sanctions, stop the war in in Iran, get rid of the sanctions on Moscow, and then we’ll think about selling you rare earths?
“Absolutely correct. The fact that there are no leaks so far is quite telling. This means that they might have discussed it and the Chinese said ‘if you follow our list of preconditions, we might think about selling the rare earths that you need.”
What do you think this trip will do to the alliance Russia-Iran-China?
“It’s not going to change anything.”
Watani International
22 May 2026
