Real winner of Xi summit revealed as Trump looks to usher in new era with China

For years, being "soft" on China was a political insult hurled across the aisle. Great-power competition ruled. Washington increasingly prepared for the possibility of war with Beijing as the national security world pivoted toward the Indo-Pacific.

The scene in D.C. last week looked markedly different as President Donald Trump attempts to welcome in a new era with the world's second-biggest superpower and growing adversary — especially when it comes to the ever-changing tech landscape.

Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping with a red carpet and the pomp of a state visit last week, speaking warmly about his relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader as the two sides looked for new areas of cooperation.

"The summit went great — for Xi Jinping," Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.

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The reception was striking given how Washington's leaders have spent years describing the challenge posed by Beijing: Chinese hackers penetrating American networks, state-backed efforts to steal U.S. technology and trade secrets, unfair trade practices and a rapidly expanding military with its sights set on Taiwan.

Gordon Chang, a China analyst and author who has long advocated a harder line toward Beijing, said there was a distinction between keeping lines of communication open with a rival and giving Xi the reception he received in Washington.

"I understand that you have a need for dialogue, but when you have that dialogue, you don't necessarily have to have all of the ceremony and all the legitimization," Chang told Fox News Digital. "We can talk to the Chinese, but we don't need to do it in the way that occurred last week."

Trump, however, is betting that a warmer relationship with Xi can produce results despite those enduring disputes. The question is how much Beijing's behavior has actually changed — and what Washington is willing to live with in pursuit of a more stable relationship.

Kennedy explained that "the U.S. got a few small things — agreement to lower tariffs on $60B worth of goods, some purchases of specific items (such as agricultural and coal), the standing up of an AI dialogue, and alignment on major goals with regard to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz."

"But Xi came away the winner because the current commercial ceasefire works mainly to Beijings advantage," he added. "It gives them time to continue unabated their drive for tech self-reliance, narrow the lead in various sectors, including AI, and maintain an imbalanced commercial relationship with its trading partners."

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Chang identified the same commodity as particularly valuable to Beijing: time.

"While we talk, we defer taking action," Chang said. "So China got delay. And that is, I think, absolutely critical."

The administration has gotten movement from Beijing on some long-running disputes.

China has tightened controls on chemicals used to make fentanyl and, according to the White House, arrested 21 Chinese nationals in August based on information supplied by U.S. law enforcement. Trump is still pressing Xi to permanently restrict additional precursor chemicals, but the steps mark tangible pro