24 Sept 2026
"US-China relationship is the only game in town"
Mark Logan joined BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback, hosted by John Campbell, to discuss President Donald Trump's White House welcome for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The panel included two leading geopolitical experts Professor Michael Cox of the London School of Economics and Professor Scott Lucas of University College Dublin.
Mark Logan, a former Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary China Group, said the red-carpet reception showed how evenly matched the two powers had become. He said a US president personally greeting a visiting leader (making an official State visit) on arrival had last happened in 1962, when John F. Kennedy met Harold Macmillan. "When it comes to international politics, this is the only game in town," he said. "This is the most important, most consequential relationship."
He said China still faced real pressures at home, including slow growth and a property crisis that has not yet been fully resolved. Even so, he said, China was going into the talks in a very strong position, and some would argue it had the upper hand.
Professor Scott Lucas said Trump's usual pressure tactics had not worked on Beijing. Tariffs of 145 per cent were quickly cut back after China hit back and used its grip on rare earth metals. He added that Trump "really wants to be liked by Xi", which shapes wider US policy.
Professor Michael Cox said Xi wanted a world order that increasingly revolves around China, while keeping the Communist Party firmly in power. He warned that the Trump administration "doesn't have any sentimentality" towards its European allies, "including, by the way, the United Kingdom".
Mark Logan said long wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were helping China by drawing American resources away from Asia. He agreed with Professor Cox that China had a strategic advantage. However, he said Beijing did not intend to lead the world in the way the United States had since 1945. He said a world divided into spheres of influence was becoming the political reality.
On artificial intelligence, Mark Logan said he wished Britain were a bigger player. He said the United States was focused on the race to build the most advanced models, while China was "seeing it more like the electrification of the system", rolling AI out across its whole economy.
Professor Lucas said US policy on China now depended heavily on the President's personality. Washington's approach was describes as "mercurial".
Full interview can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/G6Z7ULbTB5k?si=VfNiMFdKkLiaVnif