In this episode, Demetri Sevastopulo and Xiangwei Wang join the ChinaPower Podcast to discuss the current state of U.S.-China relations and what to watch for at the Trump-Xi summit in Washington, D.C. Demetri provides the inside scoop as one of very few people to interview US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after his meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng ahead of the summit. Xiangwei provides his expert take on Xi Jinping’s thinking as former editor-in-chief for the South China Morning Post. They examine efforts to stabilize U.S.-China relations and assess how issues ranging from AI and trade to Taiwan and Iran could shape the leaders’ discussions and the future trajectory of the relationship.
Demetri Sevastopulo is a U.S.-China correspondent at Financial Times.
Xiangwei Wang is a senior visiting scholar at Harvard and former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post.
Note: This episode was recorded on September 22, 2026, prior to the Trump-Xi summit.