The New Yorker's Evan Osnos shares his thoughts on the Trump-Xi summit

"I think it'll take a few more days. We'll start to - things will dribble out. One thing did catch my attention, though. When the Chinese side said that the most important issue from their perspective was Taiwan, that's being pretty blunt. That tells you that they believe this is something that they want to draw attention to, and we'll have to find out later. We may not know immediately what it is that the American side committed to."

"So even though the Chinese statement repeated a lot of words and phrases that they've said many, many, many times about Taiwan, it struck you as significant. It is news that they brought up Taiwan in this way. OSNOS: It's news in the sense that I think if you ask most Americans, they don't think about Taiwan every day, but in China and in Beijing, this is issue No. 1. So it's not something that's going to go away on its own."

"You know China really well. You were mentioning just a moment ago you've been coming here for 30 years. OSNOS: Yeah. That's right. INSKEEP: Which is amazing, and done a lot of reporting that a lot of people have paid attention to. You know a lot of people here and here you are back again. What strikes you about the conversations you've been having? OSNOS: You know, one phrase keeps coming up when you talk to Chinese folks who pay a lot of attention to this relationship. They say the U.S.-China relationship is like a big building on a very wobbly foundation"

Chinese officials presented Taiwan as the most important issue in the Trump-Xi summit, using blunt emphasis that signals a desire to keep attention on it. The American side’s specific commitments may not become clear immediately, but additional details are expected to emerge over the following days. Taiwan remains a top priority in Beijing, even if many Americans do not think about it daily. Conversations with Chinese observers who closely track the relationship repeatedly describe U.S.-China ties as a large building resting on a very unstable foundation, reflecting underlying instability and risk.

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