Ishaan Tharoor(@ishaantharoor):As Xi leaves Washington, flagging what @EvanFeigenbaum told me for my column earlier this week: A Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Asia during the George W. Bush Administration, he argued that China has found an “easy mark,” who is giving ground on sensitive issues such as export controls on U.S. chips and American policy toward Taiwan. Still, China is not aiming for a grand bargain with Washington anytime soon. “Their objective really is just to ring-fence the worst outcomes and park the Americans in a corner,” Feigenbaum told me, “and then pursue their opportunities for expansion of their influence regionally and globally elsewhere.”

2026.09.25 12:44

As Xi leaves Washington, flagging what @EvanFeigenbaum told me for my column earlier this week: A Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Asia during the George W. Bush Administration, he argued that China has found an “easy mark,” who is giving ground on sensitive issues such as export controls on U.S. chips and American policy toward Taiwan. Still, China is not aiming for a grand bargain with Washington anytime soon. “Their objective really is just to ring-fence the worst outcomes and park the Americans in a corner,” Feigenbaum told me, “and then pursue their opportunities for expansion of their influence regionally and globally elsewhere.”