Busan Summit: Trump Declares Victory as Xi Tightens Grip

Spread love

Former Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbaev argues that while Trump claimed “total success” at the APEC summit, Xi Jinping quietly solidified China’s dominance over the world’s rare earth supply chain — turning leverage into long-term power.

By TRH Foreign Affairs Desk

New Delhi, October 30, 2025 — When Donald Trump declared “total success” after meeting Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, even his most loyal supporters raised eyebrows. “A 12 out of 10,” he called it — a summit that supposedly reset the US-China relationship, reduced tariffs, boosted soybean exports, and solved the rare earth crisis.

But as former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev observed on LinkedIn, Beijing’s silence spoke louder than Trump’s exclamations. While the US president proclaimed victory from Air Force One, China issued a single, understated statement: both nations are ready to “prosper together.”

That phrase — elegant, ambiguous, and deliberate — was Xi Jinping’s real message.

Beneath the diplomatic smiles lies a strategic shift that could define the next decade of global power. Just weeks before the Busan summit, China quietly rolled out new export licensing rules for processed and enriched rare earth elements — the backbone of modern technology and defence.

China already dominates the field, producing 70% of the world’s rare earths and refining 90%. Even if mines operate in Australia or Africa, the critical purification happens in China. And now, with the new rules, Beijing controls who gets access — and when.

“From now on, Chinese firms can deny export licenses for ‘strategic and security reasons,’” Otorbaev writes. That means US defence manufacturers, who depend on these materials to build aircraft, missiles, and guidance systems, are suddenly at the mercy of Chinese discretion.

To put it in perspective: a single F-35 fighter jet requires nearly half a ton of rare earth materials. Without them, the aircraft — and the military supply chain behind it — stops cold.

Trump’s claim per Otorbaev that “all issues have been resolved” appears, at best, premature. The Chinese decree remains in force, and no US official has confirmed any real concession from Beijing. Yet politically, the optics of resolution are powerful — a win Trump can sell back home as proof of his “deal-making genius.”

Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is playing the long game. His calm, almost philosophical tone at the summit suggested confidence, not concession. “Both nations can prosper together,” he said — stressing cooperation while consolidating leverage.

In the end, the Busan meeting revealed two kinds of leadership. Trump needed a headline; Xi wanted time. One walked away with applause. The other walked away with control.

As Otorbaev aptly concludes, “The world’s technological arteries still flow through Beijing — and China just placed its hand on the valve.” He also summed up, saying that the Busan Summit could just be a lull before the next storm.

Follow The Raisina Hills on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn