In addition to what may be happening behind the scenes, to which this news service is not privy, there are a number of public indications of preparations underway for the much-awaited White House meeting on Sept. 24 of President Xi Jinping of China and U.S. President Donald Trump.

First, there is the announced official preparatory meeting on Sunday Sept. 20 between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. The two sides will hold talks in New York as the “one-year expiry in trade war truce nears… [and] the two sides try to bridge differences, the Financial Times reported. “The meeting comes as the two sides remain at odds over several issues, including AI competition and rare earths…. China has pushed to extend the Busan truce for the rest of Trump’s term. But several people familiar with the talks said the US was insisting on a six-month extension, partly because it believes China is not fully living up to the commitments on rare earths reached in Busan,” South Korea in October 2025.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has also been busy with related diplomacy. Meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Beijing, Wang told Araghchi that Beijing is “willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Iran, and safeguard Iran’s legitimate rights and interests.” This is a message that Xi is expected to deliver personally to Trump when they meet, in the face of American threats/demands that all nations must cut off economic ties with Iran as decreed by the Treasury Department’s Operation Economic Outcast. China is a major importer of Iranian oil.

Wang continued: “We encourage Iran and the US to stay rational and restrained” in the current war that Israel and the United States launched. He added: “We urge all parties to take effective measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at an early date,” he said, adding that China “does not want to see regional tensions spill over further into Yemen and the Red Sea,” urging the two sides to “rebuild the negotiation mechanism based on the consensus reached so far.”