US President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit with China’s President Xi Jinping, marking the two leaders’ first face-to-face talks six months after reaching a trade war truce.The summit, which was delayed from March because of the US-Israeli war on Iran, comes as Trump needs a foreign policy win amid dissatisfaction at home over the latest Middle East quagmire.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listUS-China ties have also been strained by the war, which has damaged Beijing’s economy. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Washington’s competing blockade of Iranian ports have left Chinese ships stranded and severely affected China’s crude oil imports, half of which are shipped from the Middle East.Trump is likely to renew calls for China to join an “international operation” to open the Strait of Hormuz, which Beijing has so far resisted. Xi is expected to look for gains on pressing issues, including trade, rare-earth minerals and a US recognition of China’s rights over self-ruling Taiwan.As Trump threatens to quite NATO over the alliance’s refusal to back the US-Israeli war on Iran, further distancing the US from its traditional allies, the Trump-Xi summit has revitalised the idea of a Group of Two (G2) – an informal grouping in which the world’s two largest superpowers could steer the world’s collective future.What is a Group of Two – or ‘G2’?The concept of a “G2” between China and the US – similar to the Group of Seven (G7) or Group of 20 (G20) forums gathering the world’s leading industrialised economies – was originally proposed by prominent US economist C Fred Bergsten in 2005. Advertisement In its original definition, it advocated for a shared responsibility for the world’s two top economies to stabilise global markets and tackle issues of global concern, rather than suggesting a hegemony over others.The concept gained traction during t …
