In the weeks leading up to President Trump welcoming President Xi Jinping of China to Washington on Wednesday evening, Beijing has been accused of undermining America\u2019s national interests on a number of fronts.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump accused the country this summer of \u201csinister election meddling\u201d in the 2020 election, a breach he considered so historic he presented the claims in a prime-time address<\/a>. Since the start of the war with Iran, Chinese companies have provided Tehran with satellite imagery, and access to a spy satellite, that Iran\u2019s military forces have used to mount attacks in the region, according to multiple U.S. officials. And Beijing has shown no signs of retreating from its business dealings with Iran<\/a>, in defiance of U.S. efforts to cut off economic lifelines to Tehran.<\/p>\n But as his meeting with Mr. Xi approached, Mr. Trump has repeatedly found ways to give him a pass \u2014 portraying him more as a personal friend than as a geopolitical competitor despite significant rivalries on matters of global power, trade, artificial intelligence and more.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump has spent weeks boosting the visit as a major event for the United States, sprucing up the White House beforehand, and planning for a state visit that will start with a rare greeting at Joint Base Andrews.<\/p>\n Even staunch allies of Mr. Trump have bristled at the plans.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a speech on the Senate floor<\/a> that he would have advised against the invitation<\/a> to the \u201cbrutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Wicker said he hoped Mr. Trump would press Mr. Xi on \u201cthe purposes of China\u2019s massive military buildup, or about China\u2019s clear support for Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to Mr. Wicker\u2019s comments, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the visit reflected an acknowledgment by Mr. Trump that despite disagreements, China is one of the largest economic and military powers in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationship between the United States and China will define the 21st century, what happens in that relationship,\u201d Mr. Rubio said. \u201cThe idea that we would not interact with them at the highest levels is irresponsible. It\u2019s outrageous. We have to.\u201d<\/p>\n Foreign policy experts say that Mr. Trump\u2019s posture has been striking even for a president who prides himself on his personal brand of diplomacy.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump is displaying an extraordinary degree of deference to Xi,\u201d said Julian Gewirtz, a scholar at Columbia University who has written on the history of U.S.-China relations. \u201cHe is lavishing honors on China\u2019s leader while downplaying threats to American interests. Beijing could scarcely have asked for a more accommodating host.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Gewirtz, who also served a former White House and State Department official working on China under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said that traditionally it has been Beijing that has sought out a state visit. This time, he said, the dynamic seems reversed. What Mr. Trump emerges with from all of the spectacle will be a test of his brand of diplomacy, which emphasizes personal ties.<\/p>\n \u201cWashington has often leveraged symbolic honors to seek substantive gains from Beijing,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the question is straightforward: What is Trump getting for America in return for all this ceremony?\u201d<\/p>\n In a call with reporters, White House officials said the agenda with Mr. Xi will include topics like artificial intelligence, fentanyl and the upcoming expiration of a trade truce.<\/p>\n Asked whether the president planned to raise Mr. Trump\u2019s allegations that China interfered in the 2020 election, the White House had no comment.<\/p>\n Another White House official pushed back against the premise that Mr. Trump was overly deferential to Mr. Xi. The official pointed to a number of measures the United States has taken that have affected China\u2019s economy<\/a>, including a marked decline on exports to the United States.<\/p>\n The person said the United States has targeted some entities that have been found to support Iran \u2014 though no major banks \u2014 and that other measures are in the works behind the scenes that have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the visit ahead of time.<\/p>\n (Last month, when Mr. Trump was asked why he was not targeting Chinese banks the way he was generally targeting allies like Canada, he snapped back: \u201cWell, who said I\u2019m not? You said, why not. I mean, who said I\u2019m not. You don\u2019t know if I\u2019m doing it. Well, I don\u2019t have to announce everything, do I?\u201d)<\/p>\n A Treasury Department spokesman said in a follow-up email that Secretary Scott Bessent, who is spearheading the so-called \u201cOperation Economic Outcast\u201d<\/a> operation, has made it clear to China that it will not hesitate to hold them accountable for supporting Iran economically.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, when pressed about China\u2019s behavior, Mr. Trump at several points seemed to make excuses for Mr. Xi.<\/p>\n During an Oval Office event this month in which he called the war in Iran \u201csmall potatoes,\u201d Mr. Trump suggested that China\u2019s aid to Iran was negligible because of his personal plea.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, please don\u2019t get involved to President Xi \u2014 I have a very good relationship,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re not really involved. Very little involvement by China. China could have plenty of involvement. They get 50 percent of the oil from the Hormuz strait.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the month, when asked about reports that Chinese entities may have provided the Iranians with satellite imagery that led to deadly strikes on U.S. forces in Jordan, again Mr. Trump demurred<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey basically do what we do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you going to raise that with Xi when he visits?\u201d a reporter asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cYou know when they say that China spies on us, I say you\u2019re right, and we spy on them too. You know, we spy on them too.\u201d<\/p>\n Pressed during a Fox News interview about what Mr. Xi may want from his visit, Mr. Trump pivoted to his consistent refrain: \u201cYou know, he and I get along very well.\u201d<\/p>\n That the visit comes after Mr. Trump has spent weeks escalating attacks on America\u2019s allies<\/a> presents a particularly jarring split-screen, several foreign policy analysts say.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a rule of international politics that American presidents normally follow: treat your allies better than your adversaries,\u201d said R. Nicholas Burns, the top U.S. diplomat in Beijing under the Biden administration. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t want to give the impression to our allies that we actually care more about this relationship with Xi Jinping than we care about the relationship with them. I think the president is giving that impression by being so unremittingly uncritical of the Chinese.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Burns added that Mr. Trump\u2019s tactics are unlikely to work on China, which he said responds to strength.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are practical, hardheaded, cynical about the United States,\u201d Mr. Burns said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to judge us, I think, by how strong we are and how much we push back when we have to push back. I think the Chinese understand power and deterrence. They\u2019ll be swayed more and affected more by a strong American position than they will by flattery.\u201d<\/p>\n If previous summits are any indication, Mr. Trump\u2019s pageantry and flattery to impress Mr. Xi won\u2019t go far, analysts say. When the two met in Korea last year to de-escalate a fierce trade war<\/a>, for example, Mr. Trump did most of the talking and Mr. Xi stayed largely silent. Mr. Trump called Mr. Xi \u201ca friend of mine\u201d and called him \u201cpowerful.\u201d The Chinese president approached the meeting with caution and steeliness. In his remarks, Mr. Xi likened China-U.S. relations to a \u201cgiant ship\u201d that requires steady joint leadership.<\/p>\n The two leaders come to the U.S. summit in vastly different positions, said Jonathan A. Czin, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who previously worked at the C.I.A. analyzing Chinese politics.<\/p>\n