President Donald Trump on August 31 said China had been ‘relatively inactive’ regarding Iran, including in the Strait of Hormuz, a day before Chinese leader Xi Jinping held brief talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at a regional summit. Trump made the remarks during a White House press briefing ahead of Xi’s expected visit to Washington later this month.
Xi and Pezeshkian met briefly on September 1 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Iran’s presidency described the interaction as a short meeting and conversation, while neither Beijing nor Tehran announced a formal bilateral session or released a substantive account of the talks. The limited public engagement contrasted with their more extensive interactions at prior major gatherings, such as Xi’s formal meeting with Pezeshkian in Beijing during the 2025 SCO summit, where the two discussed bilateral relations, trade, investment, clean energy, and connectivity.
Trump and Xi previously discussed Iran during their May meeting in Beijing, with Trump stating afterward that both leaders shared an interest in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and maintaining the free flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. A White House spokesperson, when asked for clarification on Trump’s remarks about China’s inactivity, referred to the president’s comments and provided no additional details.
The upcoming Xi-Trump meeting, scheduled for late September, follows a fragile U.S.-China trade truce set to expire in early November. While discussions have included critical issues such as artificial intelligence safety, human rights, and economic cooperation, no substantive deliverables have been announced regarding tariff truce extensions, mineral exports, or agricultural purchases. One area of progress cited by the Washington Examiner was the release of Pastor Ezra Jin, a Chinese Christian minister imprisoned in China, who was reunited with his family in the United States following Trump’s request during his May visit to Beijing. The case of Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, remains unresolved.
The brief Xi-Pezeshkian meeting occurred as China joined a declaration condemning strikes on Iran, signaling Beijing’s alignment with international pressure on Tehran amid ongoing regional tensions.