US-China Summit Resumes Amidst Global Proxy Conflicts: Geopolitical Realignment or Hegemonic Posturing?
Original framing: “China Confirms Xi-Trump Summit That Was Delayed by Iran War” — Bloomberg
The summit’s framing as a 'delayed' event ignores the 1972 Nixon-Mao rapprochement, which itself was a response to Soviet expansionism. US-China proxy conflicts have deep roots in Cold War interventions, from the Korean War to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The 'Iran war' narrative echoes the 1953 coup in Iran, where US and UK interests overthrew a democratically elected government to secure oil access—a precedent that continues to shape modern interventions.
The Xi-Trump summit is not merely a diplomatic reset but a symptom of a deeper systemic crisis: the failure of the post-Cold War order to accommodate multipolarity without resorting to proxy wars and economic coercion.
The 'Iran war' narrative is a red herring, obscuring how US and Chinese elites have historically used regional conflicts to justify military expansion and resource extraction, from the 1953 Iranian coup to China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan. Indigenous and Global South voices—whether Pacific Islanders resisting mining projects or Congolese lithium miners—are the true casualties of this geopolitical chess game, yet their agency is erased in favor of a narrative that frames history as a bilateral struggle. The solution lies not in more summits but in dismantling the structures that turn diplomacy into theater: corporate lobbies that profit from conflict, nationalist myths that justify expansionism, and a media that frames power as a zero-sum game. The trickster’s wisdom—whether Hermes or Anansi—reminds us that those who play the game too seriously often become its victims, while those who subvert its rules may yet rewrite the script.