China looking closely at Trump-Putin’s meeting in Alaska, experts warn

Security experts sound the alarm that China and the rest of the international community are looking closely at how President Donald Trump interacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting in Alaska on Friday.

The White House declared in the performance of the talks that the meeting was a “listening exercise”, and Trump confirmed that he would not make offers or concessions during the floor with Putin.

But security experts have warned that this meeting will have consequences beyond the war in Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump shakes the hand of Russian President Vladimir Putin while they come together to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine at Elmendorf-Richardson Base in Anchorage, Alaska, August 15, 2025. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)

“Given that China acts as a coherent supporter and a catalyst for Russia, they of course look at talks about Ukraine very closely,” Fox News Digital, Lithuanian Minister of Defense, Šakalienė said this week on his trip to Washington, DC.

“Any concession would undoubtedly serve as an incentive to the RPC (People’s Republic of China) to undertake a hostile path in Indo-Pacific because the risk of disastrous consequences would be perceived as significantly lower.”

Trump said that he would call on his European and Ukrainian counterparts immediately after the talks based on anchoration and that he hoped that the next step would be for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin meet in person, perhaps with Trump and other European leaders.

The Minister of Defense of NATO signals absolute mistrust “that Putin wants any peace agreement before the Trump summit

But there is also speculation as if the president will seek to conclude his own agreement with Russia, namely in the field of critical minerals, Trump seeking to counter Chinese competition.

Thursday, Trump would not answer questions to find out if he will seek a problem of critical minerals with Putin, instead of telling journalists: “We will see what is going on with this meeting.”

But the optics of Trump which has concluded a trade agreement with Russia while Putin refuses to end its deadly ambitions in Ukraine could be considered as helping the Moscow war chest and could report more to the Chinese president XI Jinping that Trump values “the deterrents on deterrence”, warned an expert in geopolitical strategy of East Asia.

A member of the Popular Liberation Army looks through twins during military exercises with the Taiwan Lan Yang frigate in the background on August 5, 2022. (Lin Jian / Xinhua via AP)

“Beijing will read any permissive agreement as an increasing latitude for the pressure of the gray area on Taiwan, which could reduce the confidence of allies in the perceived American red lines,” said Craig Singleton, principal director of the Chinese program and main member of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in a declaration at Fox News Digital.

“China will exploit this doubt, amplifying a story of” delay “agreements and probe the coordination shortcomings of Tokyo and Seoul to Manila.

Could Trump meet with Putin be the next moment Reagan-Gorbatchev?

“If Washington is perceived as a” sale “of Ukraine, Beijing will learn a simple lesson: the payments and the costs of coercion are contarable,” added Singleton. “In this case, Beijing can intensify (military) incursions around Taiwan and intensify the pressure of the gray zone to assess the stability of stability that Washington will exchange for silence.”

But there is one more element at meetings that worries security experts – the absence of Zelenskyy.

Although the meeting has apparently been pushed by Putin, who has so far refused to meet Zelenskyy despite the calls of the Ukrainian president to do so, his absence during the discussion of a war that takes place on the soil of his country could say a lot about China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping serve his hand at the British summit in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic, Russia. (Getty Images)

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

“From the point of view of Beijing, leaving Zelenskyy widens the way for a wild gel that locks the battlefield gains from Russia, an implicit head sign that the great powers can revise borders by force,” said Singleton. “Beijing will welcome him quietly and note that Washington entertained colony talks without kyiv, a precedent he pockets for Asia.”

In the end, he argued: “If the attack pays in Europe, dissuade the discounts in Asia”.

“For Beijing, the Alaska meeting is the message. The major power of merchants on smaller states normalize the Chinese leader in the World Order Xi Jinping prefers,” added Singleton.