While the world focused on airstrikes against Iran, something arguably more consequential was happening quietly in Paris conference rooms. The US Secretary of the Treasury and the Chinese Vice Premier kept meeting with their staffs, working through the final details of the Trump-Xi summit now rescheduled for April.
George Friedman, chairman of Geopolitical Futures, highlighted these parallel negotiations in a Geopolitical Futures podcast as the clearest signal of what both sides truly prioritize, "Hvylya" reports.
"When the president said he can't make it, he is busy with the war, they rescheduled it for sometime in April," Friedman said. "The Chinese didn't hesitate to do that. They didn't say, well, if you can't visit now we are not interested in talking. They accommodated him."
That accommodation, Friedman argued, tells you everything about China's priorities. Beijing needs this deal far more than the United States does. Its economy is faltering, banks are failing, and social unrest is growing. Access to the American market - one quarter of the global economy - is the lifeline China's export-driven system was built around.
For the United States, the incentives are real but less urgent. Chinese goods lowered the cost of living for American consumers, and affordability remains a politically sensitive issue for the Trump administration. Both sides also need to address the military dimension, particularly around Taiwan, before any economic deal can hold.
Friedman sees the Paris meetings as proof that neither side is willing to let the Iran war derail their most important bilateral relationship. "The war was going on and the US and Chinese delegations were meeting each other in Paris to talk about this," he said. "So I don't see this in any way from the Chinese point of view affecting it."
"Hvylya" previously analyzed the broader dynamics of the Middle East conflict in a piece asking whether the military victory in the Gulf has already been won while the peace may yet be lost.