President Trump holds an impromptu press conference aboard Air Force One as he returns from Beijing, China and a historic visit with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping. WATCH:
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China/Taiwan is a sensitive issue, particularly when we consider the current U.S/Cuba dynamic.
President Trump sits down with Fox News Sean Hannity for an interview immediately following the fast-paced visit in Beijing, China.
Hannity asks President Trump for his sense of the greeting and pageantry put on by Chairman Xi at the formal greeting, as well as some general discussion on the topics of a very lengthy talk between Trump administration officials and their Chinese counterparts.
President Trump and Chairman Xi discussed Iran and the current conflict which has impacted the global supply of oil. ¹{BACKSTORY HERE} It should be noted that closure of the Strait of Hormuz in combination with the U.S. control over Venezuela oil production has reversed the dependency dynamic between Russia and China.
Prior to oil/gas shortages (skyrocketing prices), and due to Western U.S/EU sanctions, Russia was very dependent on China for supplies and component goods. After oil/gas shortages were triggered by the Iran conflict, China became dependent on Russia for their energy demands. A rather unusual dynamic sitting like an 800lb Gorilla in the corner of the meeting between President Trump and Chairman Xi.
¹(1) Upon reelection President Trump told all U.S. energy providers to “drill baby drill” and maximize energy production. Trump then deregulated the industry for maximum efficiency: Secretaries Burgum (Interior), Wright (Energy) and Zeldin (EPA).
(2) Trump then meets with Putin in Alaska Aug 15, 2025. Three days later, Aug 18, 2025, Putin restarts Russia’s flagship Arctic project, the LNG export facility via the Northern Route to Asia.
Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping hosted President Donald J Trump and the delegation of administration officials and leaders of U.S. businesses during a state dinner in Beijing, China.
The full video of the event is below, prompted to 12:37 where President Trump delivered remarks to the Chinese and American attendees.
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Alternative angle video also included below.
Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping wanted to emphasize history and determination when he took President Donald Trump on a tour of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. The temple was used by Chinese Emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties where the rulers would pray for abundant harvests, good weather and good fortune for the people of China. Apparently, Chairman Xi wanted to send a message that rulers of China follow a mandate that is in alignment with spiritual divinity.
It is a rather ironic view of stewardship considering that religion is subject to strict government regulation in communist China. The Chinese government officially recognizes five religions: Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Daoism; however, the practice of each religion must follow communist rules and be in alignment with all CCP dictates. Within China, this is known as “sinicization,” a requirement that all religious groups must adapt their beliefs and practices to align with Chinese culture and the Communist Party’s ideology.
The Temple of Heaven is near Tiananmen Square, and the most famous temple in Beijing. Originally built along with the Forbidden City in the early 1400s the temple is also near the royal palace that President Trump and Chairman Xi toured with their spouses in 2017. Video Below:
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio eloquently takes some geopolitical complexities and puts them into understandable terms. During an interview aboard Airforce One en route to Beijing, Fox News pundit Sean Hannity asks some regional questions about high profile events.
Secretary Rubio accurately puts the perspective of Chinese interests into the context of current friction points between the USA and Iran. WATCH:
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President Trump will be participating in a formal greeting ceremony with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping in Beijing China at 10:00am local, 10:00pm ET.
The event is being livestreamed. Links Below:
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There is an increased public discussion about the race to build datacenters in the USA that are part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race for superiority. There are multiple facets within the discussion and some things to consider that might not be at the forefront, yet.
Overall, there is a global race to build the best AI system that is not dissimilar to the nuclear arms race. Arguably the use of AI as a weapon is one possibility; while the second aspect surrounds strategic economic power.
The USA is poised very favorably in this AI race due to the advanced tech industry in America and recent national security moves made by President Trump in the tech sector surrounding strategic critical minerals and domestic chip production. However, no one is quite sure where China is in their AI development and last year’s explosive revelation around China’s “Deepseek” model shocked the U.S. tech industry due to its advanced intelligence prowess.
With China and the USA both in this AI race, and the need for massive investment in datacenters to do the processing needed for an artificial intelligence brain of such significant capacity, there is a sense of urgency in the tech industry that is surfacing around the country. Simultaneously, with datacenters becoming more controversial, suddenly the geopolitical intelligence operations enter the picture.
Currently, it is well accepted inside the tech industry that part of China’s strategy against the USA in this AI race is to slow down American system development. As a consequence, it is beginning to surface that Beijing may be funding voices inside the USA to rally against the building of datacenters. Essentially, China funding voices, real or artificially boosted influence operations, to amplify domestic opposition to the datacenters.
Anytime the intelligence operations become part of a domestic issue that has national security implications, things get opaque, cloudy and muddy pretty quick. Is datacenter opposition organic – actual citizens and communities pushing back against the development in their towns and/or cities or is the opposition to the datacenters a form of foreign influence operation?
The meeting is all business as the two apex economic leaders are scheduled to meet on a summit that is majority framed around finance, trade, AI and economics. At its core, this summit between President Trump and Chairman Xi is about economic power.
Within the power dynamic of these types of high-stakes meetings, positioning plays a critical role. Chairman Xi Jinping did not attend the arrival ceremony and the meeting between Trump and Xi will not take place until Thursday. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng greeted Trump at the Beijing airport. US Ambassador to China David Purdue and China’s Ambassador to the US Xie Feng were also there to welcome him.
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(Daily Mail) – […] The President’s Air Force One posse also included NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who was scooped up on a refueling stop in Alaska, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Fox News host Sean Hannity and Rush Hour director Brett Ratner.
There was much fake news about the tech and finance leaders traveling with President Trump to China. Moments ago, President Trump corrects the record:
TRUTH SOCIAL – “CNBC incorrectly reported that the Great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the World’s Greatest Businessmen/women proudly going to China. In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC’s reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS!
It is an Honor to have Jensen, Elon, Tim Apple, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzmann, Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), and many others journeying to the Great Country of China where I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to “open up” China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request. I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!”
“Tim Apple” always cracks me up. lol
As previously noted and discussed by USTR Jamieson Greer, since the original trip to Beijing was announced several months ago, it was very easy to identify this visit was not a customary ‘state visit’ in the formal sense of the term. Instead, this trip was always planned as a trade, finance and economic business trip specifically to engage Chairman Xi with a financial and investment focus.
The U.S. Dept of Justice has indicted a mayor in California for being an agent of China.
Eileen Wang (58) was the Mayor of Arcadia; she has admitted guilt. She is a Democrat.
Dept of Justice PRESS RELEASE – LOS ANGELES – The mayor of Arcadia has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Justice Department announced today.
Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, is charged via information with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government.
In a related filing, Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which comes with a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
She is expected to make her initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Wang is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks.
Wang was elected in November 2022 to the Arcadia City Council, a five-person governing body from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis.
[…] According to her plea agreement, from late 2020 through 2022, Wang and Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 65, of Chino Hills, worked at the direction and control of PRC government officials and coordinated with U.S.-based individuals to promote the PRC’s interests by, among other things, promoting pro-PRC propaganda in the United States. Sun is serving a four-year federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty in October 2025 to acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.