China says will work with US as equals. Is Beijing more equal than others?

US President Donald Trump's China visit for a high-stakes summit comes amid a tense geopolitical situation, when the Iran war is weighing heavily on the US economy and China emerging as a silent player in the conflict. The heavyweight delegation accompanying Trump has made the summit stand out. While trade and tariffs are top agendas, the optics of the summit is noteworthy. The exceptionally lavish welcome by China to Trump is seemingly a flex by Beijing that it no longer sees itself merely as a competitor to the US, but as an equal.

A day before Trump's arrival, China's state-owned paper China Daily, wrote in an editorial that Beijing is ready to work with Washington in the spirit of "equality, respect, and mutual benefit". The daily quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun.

"China welcomes Trump's visit, during which the two leaders (Trump and Xi) will have in-depth exchanges of views on key issues concerning bilateral ties and global peace and development," Guo said. To a journalist's question on Trump's visit to China after nine years, Guo said, "China stands ready to work with the US in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, expanding cooperation and managing differences, to bring greater stability and certainty to the world."

The China Daily's editorial language repeatedly stressed "dialogue", "mutual respect", "equality", and "win-win cooperation", but beneath the conciliatory tone it gave a clear geopolitical message that the Dragon believes the "world order is no longer unipolar" and that Washington must deal with Beijing as an "equal power centre", not as a "junior partner" or "rival" to be contained.

THE CAREFUL MESSAGING BY CHINA, US

Trump travelling to China along with a high-profile business delegation, including Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, and others, was a spectacle in itself. It showcases the willingness of the US business community and the administration to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with China.

China also didn't hold back in making the Trump administration feel overwhelmed. Beijing rolled out an exceptionally lavish "state-visit-plus" welcome for Trump, complete with military pageantry, a 21-gun salute, and a tightly choreographed ceremony at Tiananmen Square. Hundreds of schoolchildren waving flags, a Chinese military band, and a guard of honour underlined Beijing's effort to project stability, strength, and warmth.

The Trump-Xi talks in Beijing revolved around trade, Taiwan, artificial intelligence (AI), Iran, and global supply chains, with both leaders publicly projecting warmth despite deep strategic tensions. Xi warned that mishandling Taiwan could trigger "clashes and even conflicts", while Trump pushed for greater market access for American companies and sought China's cooperation on issues linked to Iran and global energy security.

The first day of the summit saw both world powers signal a willingness to stabilise ties after years of tariff wars and geopolitical rivalry.

THE RARE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN US, CHINA IN ALASKA MEETING

China has repeatedly maintained over the years that it is not seeking to compete with the United States, but insists on being treated as an equal power. The Alaska meetings held in March 2021 marked the first high-level face-to-face engagement between the US and China under then-President Joe Biden.

Instead of a diplomatic reset, the meeting turned into a rare public confrontation, exposing the depth of tensions between the world's two largest powers. Then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and cyberattacks, while China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, responded with a sharp counterattack on American democracy and Washington's global conduct.

The meeting became significant because China openly signalled that it no longer accepted the US speaking "from a position of strength". Jiechi bluntly stated that the US did not have the qualifications to lecture China, reflecting Beijing's growing confidence as a global power.

China's state media projected the exchange as a moment where Beijing rejected America's traditional "big boss" status and asserted itself as an equal power centre in world affairs.

CHINA EXPANDING INFLUENCE AMID IRAN WAR: US INTEL REPORT

The US's war on Iran, which is considered an ally of China, is draining the US economy on one side. The recently released report by the Pentagon reveals that the US has so far spent nearly $29 billion on the war. The war in the Middle East has impacted the US militarily, economically, and politically. The surge in fuel prices is impacting US consumers. Trump's approval rating are at an all-time low after the war broke out.

On the other side, in the Eastern hemisphere, China is silently leveraging from the US's war with the Islamic Republic. A confidential US intelligence report detailed that China is exploiting the war in Iran to expand its influence over the US across military, economic, diplomatic, and other fields. Two senior US officials who had read the report were cited by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The intel report was produced by the US Joint Staff's intelligence directorate, and it used the DIME (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic) framework to assess China's response to the Iran conflict, the WSJ reported.

Amidst the US intel report and China's growing clamour that it is equal to the US, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, was quoted by the WSJ as saying, "Assertions claiming the global balance of power has shifted towards any nation other than the United States of America are fundamentally false."

ARE US AND CHINA REALLY EQUALS IN POWER?

From exports and military spending to AI, energy consumption, and rare earth minerals, the world's two largest economies have competed for influence across nearly every strategic sector.

Over the past two decades, the Dragon has transformed itself from a manufacturing hub into a global economic and technological giant, while Washington continues to retain dominance in finance, military power, and advanced innovation. The competition between the two powers is now shaping the global economy and geopolitical order.

Export and GDP:

According to the World Bank, the US was the world's top exporter in 2001 with $729 billion in exports, while China ranked fourth at $266 billion. By 2024, the picture changed, and China surpassed the US with exports worth $3.59 trillion compared to America's $1.9 trillion, and nearly 145 economies now trade more with China than with the US.

However, both the US and China carry massive debt burdens, with America's general government debt standing at 115% of GDP compared to China's estimated 94%. The US national debt has crossed $39 trillion, fuelled largely by post-2008 financial crisis bailouts and pandemic stimulus spending, while China's debt growth has been driven mainly by infrastructure projects and local government borrowing, though experts believe Beijing's real debt levels may be significantly higher than officially reported.

Military power and energy consumption:

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US remains the world's dominant military power, spending $954 billion on defence in 2025, or 3.1% of its GDP, compared to China's estimated $336 billion, which accounts for 1.7% of its GDP. While the US maintains a major edge in air power, military infrastructure, aircraft carriers, and submarines, China now has a larger naval fleet numerically and continues rapidly modernising its military, with the two countries together accounting for more than half of global military spending.

China is now the world's largest energy consumer, using 48,477 Terawatt-hour (TWh) of energy in 2024 compared to America's 26,349 TWh, with both countries still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. However, China has surged ahead in renewable energy investments, spending $290 billion on green energy projects in 2024, far above the US's $97 billion, according to the REN21 Global Status Report.

AI and semiconductors:

The US continues to lead in advanced AI systems and semiconductors, with American companies investing $109 billion in AI in 2024 alone and dominating major AI models such as ChatGPT and Gemini. China, however, has raced ahead in electric vehicles (EVs), with nearly half of all new cars sold in the country being electric compared to around 10% in the US, backed by nearly $230 billion in state subsidies since 2009.

The Dragon holds a massive advantage in rare earth minerals, with reserves estimated at 44 million tonnes compared to the US's 1.9 million tonnes. Beijing also dominates global refining and processing of rare earths, which are critical for electric vehicles, semiconductors, military systems, and renewable energy technologies, making them a major flashpoint in US-China trade tensions.

China and the US are also competing for two very different economic models. While Beijing relies on state-led planning, infrastructure spending, exports, and long-term industrial policy, the Trump administration pushed an "America First" strategy centred on tariffs, deregulation, tax cuts, restoring manufacturing, and reducing dependence on China.

The US and China today dominate different pillars of global power, making the rivalry less about one overtaking the other and more about competing systems shaping the future world order. While Washington still leads in military strength, finance, and cutting-edge innovation, Beijing's rise in trade, manufacturing, energy, and strategic resources has created a power balance the world can no longer ignore.

China's grand welcome to Trump signalled that Beijing now sees itself not as a challenger, but as a parallel power centre to the US. While Washington still dominates militarily and financially, China's rise in trade, manufacturing, and strategic resources has narrowed the gap significantly. The summit was less about optics and more about two superpowers negotiating coexistence in a shifting global order.