By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-30 01:26:50 | Updated at 2026-09-30 02:01:49
41 minutes ago
Analysis
One day after the leaders’ summit between the United States and China ended, the communist regime challenged the United States on Iran and Cuba during its Sept. 26 speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Analysts told The Epoch Times the Chinese regime’s aggressiveness illustrates the ideological divergence between the two states and suggests confrontations on various fronts will continue despite the summit’s niceties.
The Chinese regime’s vice premier Han Zheng said in his U.N. speech that “China urges the relevant country to immediately stop using threat of force against Cuba and immediately and completely lift the blockade and sanctions against Cuba,” without mentioning the United States by name.
Han’s remarks followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech at the U.N. Assembly on Sept. 22, in which he called Cuba an “absolutely failed state” and accused it of “coordinating with left-wing radicals and communist networks” in the United States.
“Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba,” Trump told world leaders.
The United States has been imposing a fuel blockade on Cuba since January.
Iran was seeking to erect a defensive missile arsenal before making a “mad dash to a nuclear bomb,” Trump said of the Iran war, which began in late February.
The U.S. president said at the UN Assembly that he is poised to make a “big decision” on whether to make a deal or quickly “annihilate” the Iranian regime.
Han also said, “China holds that the sovereignty and security of countries in the Middle East, including the Gulf, should be respected.”
Trump warned Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping against providing support to Iran during their meeting in Washington and received assurances that China would not do so, the U.S. ambassador to China said on Sept. 26.
The warning followed reports that the Chinese regime had supplied Iran with shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers and that Tehran had found ways to evade sanctions on its oil sales with Beijing’s help.
China is leveraging the Iran and Cuba issues to put pressure on the United States in response to the pressure the United States is exerting on China in the Indo-Pacific region, such as in South China Sea and the First Island Chain, Chung Chih-tung, associate research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said of Han’s U.N. speech.
“China uses the Iran issue as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States. Moreover, the U.N. speech shows China is essentially leveraging the Iran situation to counterbalance and counter the overall strategic posture of the United States in the Middle East,” Chung said.
Han’s U.N. speech is primarily rhetorical positioning, Sun Kuo-hsiang, a professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times.
“After giving Trump assurances on Iran, Beijing is unlikely to openly ramp up military or dual-use assistance that would directly violate that commitment. Continued economic ties (oil purchases, limited commercial activity) and political solidarity with Cuba are probable,” he said.
“Washington will focus on observable actions rather than public rhetoric,” Sun said.
Trump wants China to refrain from supporting Iran or disrupting his plans in the Middle East, and to purchase products from U.S. agricultural states, Feng Chongyi, a China studies professor at the University of Technology Sydney, told The Epoch Times.
“This is because issues such as war with Iran and the votes of agricultural states directly impact the Republican Party’s midterm elections—matters that are of immediate urgency,” he said.
President Donald Trump addresses the 81st Session of the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 22, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Economic Agreement
The United States and China announced that both sides agreed on mutually favorable tariffs to non-sensitive goods valued at $30 billion, as a result of the Trump-Xi summit.
The U.S. will export products such as agricultural goods, seafood, timber, cosmetics, and medical devices to China, while China will export consumer goods—including small household appliances, toys, and child safety seats—to the U.S. market.
Any tariff war between the two countries will be paused for two months. No substantive agreements were reached on major strategic issues, despite the lavish state dinner and an extravagant arrival ceremony for Xi.
U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on Sept. 23, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
The favorable tariffs on nonessential goods may temporarily lower the temperature on pure commercial disputes, Sun said. “However, the core drivers of U.S.-China rivalry lie elsewhere: Export controls on advanced semiconductors, AI, and dual-use technologies remain in place and are driven by national-security concerns, not tariff levels. Issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea, military modernization, and alliance structures (AUKUS, QUAD, etc.) are unaffected by commodity deals.”
Total U.S. goods trade with China reached an estimated $414.7 billion in 2025, alongside $80.0 billion in services trade according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
A figure of $30 billion is extremely small compared to the massive volume of bilateral trade between the United States and China, Chung said, adding, “It actually highlights the vast trade disagreements between the two nations.”
“Don’t be misled by appearances. In reality, Trump has made no substantive concessions in the meeting with Xi,” he said.
Feng said that currently it’s a second Cold War. “The United States is the leader of the free world, while the CCP is the leading party of the authoritarian world,” he said.
“Unlike the first Cold War, the barriers between the two sides are not absolute due to economic interdependence; instead, it is a contest involving a wide range of strategies,” he said. “The CCP is waging ‘unrestricted warfare’ against the United States.”
Feng believes that the conflict between the United States and China will not ease and that the United States must fight back using similar methods to achieve victory. “The confrontation will only grow increasingly intense,” he said.
Luo Ya and Reuters contributed to this report.
