A decade on, Trump will return to a stronger and more assertive China

When China's leader Xi Jinping hosts his American vis-a-vis in peiping this hebdomad, Donald ruff will be reminded of his last visit in 2017 – he was wooed hard, complete with dinner inside the Forbidden City, an honour no US president before him had received.

This week's reception promises to be just as grand, including a stop inside Zhongnanhai, the rarefied compound where China's top leadership lives and works. The agenda too will be just as thorny, with Iran being a new source of tension, alongside trade, technology and Taiwan.

But a lot has changed as Trump returns to a stronger and far more assertive China. Now well into an unprecedented third term, an ambitious Xi has been pushing forward with plans for "new productive forces" with heavy investments in renewable energy, robotics and artificial intelligence.

If the American president and his administration want a glimpse of the future Beijing has been reaching for in the last decade, they have to look beyond the imposing heart of the capital where they will spend much of their time.

In the remote, rugged north, solar and wind power now dominates vast landscapes. In the industrious south, automation is reshaping factories and supply chains, and megacities like Chongqing have become the stuff of influencers' feeds.

Billions in state funding have transformed Chongqing, a gritty manufacturing hub deep in the south-west into a powerhouse symbol of a changing China that is embracing new tech, new trade and a new adjective – trendy – as it tries to show the world a friendlier face.

Back in 2017, China was trying to prove it was on an equal footing to the US, says Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser for US-China relations at International Crisis Group.

"I think that the Chinese delegation understandably expended an enormous amount of diplomatic effort trying to convey the impression that President Xi was President Trump's geopolitical equal. What I find striking is that this time around that assertion isn't necessary on the part of Chinese."

Washington now acknowledges China as a "near-peer", says Wyne, who describes Beijing as "arguably the most powerful competitor that the United States has confronted in its history".

Trump, in turn, may well be the most mercurial foreign leader China has ever encountered. He even has a nickname here - Chuan Jianguo, which means "Trump the nation builder". Online many Chinese believe that his divisive policies and trade wars have helped China's rise by weakening America's global standing.

"He doesn't care about the consequences at all," says a middle-aged man on holiday in Chongqing. "He should know that we share the same world. It is a global village. He should not always put America first."

He says he does not want to share his name as he stands among the crowds cramming into vantage points for a view of Chongqing's neon-lit, stacked skyline.

"China has been making forward-looking strategies for decades," he adds, as the world's "cyberpunk capital" lights up behind him at dusk.

Chongqing has been carved out of the mountains because builders had nowhere to go but up. The roads climb and twist around steep hillsides, while the subway trundles underneath and then through layers of buildings. Everything overlaps to create what travel journalists have dubbed China's "8D" city.

Just like the tourists perched above, visitors in the boats below try to get the ultimate snap: the vertical landscape looming over the Yangtze River in shades of electric blue, magenta and red.

This is a city that offers a window into Beijing's bid to rival American power in more ways than one. China has been sharpening its soft power and offering overseas tourists visa-free entry. Around two million of them put Chongqing on their must-see list last year alongside Beijing and Shanghai.

But Chongqing's spectacular growth has a price tag. Building it has involved one of the largest sustained urban construction efforts in modern history. And the local government, with a population of over 30 million people, is now heavily in debt. A sluggish economy and a struggling property sector are not helping.

Beyond the city's futuristic skyline are older neighbourhoods where workers sort packages or sell fruit and vegetables in the hope of making a few dollars a day. Trump's tariffs and now the US-Israeli war in Iran are pushing on pressure points in the Chinese economy as house prices fall, unemployment rises and low consumption persists.

Through all this, the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian grip has remained firm. Many Chinese people are hesitant to talk politics and although they have a message for Trump, they did not want to share their names.

"I want to tell Donald Trump to stop stirring things up," says one nail technician whose investments have suffered due to the downturn in the global economy following the crisis in the Middle East.

Still some young people see the US as a beacon of freedom and opportunity.

"When I think about the US, I think about it liberty and people there can find their personality and discover their potential," says one fashion student on holiday with her friend.

"It's a country full of creativity and wisdom and many Chinese young people would like to receive an education there."

That has become a more uncertain dream because of strained ties between the two superpowers in recent years. But it has also led to Chinese engineers fuelling innovation at home.

In a two-storey flagship laboratory in one of the many new business hubs in Chongqing, a group of kindergarten children cackle with delight as they watch a robot fish swim around the tank.

Other humanoid robots come to life and show off their kung-fu or funky dance moves. The children are eager to show off to the BBC cameras and the teacher helps them practise their English by making them repeat in unison: "This robot can dance!"

China already has the largest number of industrial robots in its factories, and the state plans to invest around $400bn in robotics this year alone.

Chongqing, which finds itself at the heart of this investment, aims to become the Silicon Valley of western China. But here and across the country, Chinese robotics may need American help.

Robots need a fast-working brain and that's why China is keen to buy more high-end AI chips from the US firm Nvidia. This could be a sticking point in this week's meeting.

In 2022, the Biden administration tried to arrest Chinese AI and robotics by denying it cutting-edge semiconductors. President Trump has relaxed that policy. Last year, he cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling some of its advanced chips to China but not the most advanced ones.

As China and the US fight for technological supremacy, analysts believe there is a bigger concern at hand with the rise of AI.

Some fear that one bad actor with a laptop in a bunker anywhere could hack health services, or find nuclear launch codes, and argue that this is a moment for both leaders to think about the greater good, rather than the great power competition.

Competition will certainly dictate the agenda. China has already been doing all it can to ensure it does not rely on the US as its main trade partner.

China's exports to the US have fallen by around 20% in the last few years and America is now China's third-largest trade partner, behind South East Asia and the European Union.

The pageantry of Trump's last visit did not prevent the US from imposing huge tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing learned its lesson.

When Trump became the presidential frontrunner in 2024, Chinese officials got to work. They sat in on think tank meetings in Washington as once again they heard him warn that he would reign in what he saw as unfair Chinese trade practices.

When the tariffs landed last year, China was the only country that did not back down. Whether the fragile trade truce will hold, or lead to a more substantive deal, is the big question for this week. But the last year has certainly emboldened Beijing.

"We don't rely on the US market," says Lucia Chen, who sells electric cars for Sahiyoo, a firm in Chongqing, which is a key city in this push for self-reliance. Chongqing leads the country in car manufacturing, underpinning China's position as the world's largest car-maker.

Xi called for direct rail links from here through Central Asia to Europe which cost around $5bn, and Chen finds this rail link useful to sell more goods to clients.

"I'm quite optimistic about the future development of Chongqing's EV industry," she says on a tour of the factory. "My family and friends have all made the switch from fuel cars to EV. Because of the Iran war, petrol prices have risen a lot and many buyers are considering an EV for the first time."

Even as the crisis in the Middle East drags on, Trump is coming to China partly to try to end the war. He will hope for China's help to broker a deal with its friend Tehran - yet another sign of Beijing's now-pivotal role on the world stage.

The US president likes to boast that he has a good relationship with Xi and he may feel he can negotiate with China's leader.

He will also want something tangible from this summit and if he comes to Beijing and is able to walk away saying that he convinced the Chinese to buy more American goods, he may see that as a win.

For China, the win may lie in a smooth, well-choreographed state visit.

A trade deal would be a huge relief but even without that, a US presidential visit after nearly a decade burnishes Xi's message – that China is open for business and to the world.

"I feel China is getting more and more connected to the world, more integrated with the international community," says a photographer in Chongqing.

"It was very difficult for me to see people with blonde hair like you in the past - but now I meet lots of foreigners. We are all like one family."

He is one of many catering to a strange local economy that has sprung up here. On the side of the river, across from where a local train enters one of the residential towers, a row of visitors stand with their mouths open.

One woman is shouting instructions to her husband to get the shot right as the train starts coming - she chews as if she's finished a delicious meal. It seems a ridiculous trend, but "Chongqing train eating" is viral.

A man - well over 70 - jokes that taking part in this social media spectacle is helping him "become younger at heart".

This is the China Xi wants the world to see more of as he tries to portray himself as a beacon of stability in contrast to an unpredictable Trump.

Already in the year or so since Trump has come to power, the world order has shifted remarkably, strengthening Beijing's hand.

His "America First" approach has seen allies and rivals reeling from on-again, off-again tariffs, while Beijing rolled out the red carpet for a parade of political leaders from the West, including the UK, Canada and Germany.

Of course, this is far from the whole picture. There is also pervasive surveillance, strict state control over all media, and any kind of dissent or criticism against the government or the country's leaders is not tolerated.

But in Chongqing, many visitors see what may look like a cinematic scene from the future.

The city's transformation can be read as a success story or a warning sign. Either way, it offers the world – and Donald Trump - a preview of what China hopes lies ahead.

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