Sep 26, 2026

Extended US-China trade truce stabilises relations, but ASEAN remains caught between opposing pressures

IN FEBRUARY 1950, in the dark days of the Cold War, Winston Churchill coined the term “summit”, when advocating for a talk with the Soviet Union at the highest level. The British statesman said it was “not easy to see how matters could be worsened by a parley at the summit”.

Sometimes, diplomacy asks us to be content with very little. The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday (Sep 24) was one of those occasions.

For further reading, please visit The Business Times here where this article was first published on 26 Sept 2026.

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