Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington this week for a state visit that will be heavy on ceremony and, most likely, light on substance — bypassing the UN General Assembly in New York for a direct meeting with President Donald Trump.

Xi will be returning the visit Trump made to Beijing in May. For two great powers locked in an increasingly intense competition over who will keep — or gain — the upper hand in the global order, perhaps the best this visit can realistically produce is preserving the status quo and avoiding new fronts.

The two leaders are expected to discuss a broad agenda ranging from trade and tariffs to artificial intelligence, rare earth minerals and, definitely, Iran, as Trump continues to praise Xi for staying out of that conflict. Taiwan may be different: one of the most sensitive issues in the talks — and perhaps the one that Washington will be most reluctant to discuss openly. Xi will most likely introduce the topic in the discussions, but there is little new for either side to say publicly. Trump has already held up approval of a proposed $14 billion arms package since his May meeting with Xi. Neither side has much to gain this week from allowing Taiwan to derail the broader effort to keep the relationship stable, particularly six weeks before congressional elections with control of Congress at stake.

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