China told Trump, in writing, what he's not allowed to negotiate on before they've even sat down.

China's ambassador published an op-ed in the Communist Party's own newspaper today, ahead of Xi's Washington visit this week. His message: Taiwan, human rights, China's political system, and China's "development rights" are red lines Washington cannot cross.

He also accused the U.S. of "fabricating pretexts," national security concerns, trade imbalances, forced labor findings, to justify constraining China. Real findings on real abuses, dismissed in a single sentence as excuses.

These same four red lines were first laid out to Biden back in 2024. Beijing isn't updating its position for Trump. It's repeating it, publicly, days before the summit, specifically so any concession Trump makes gets read as Washington backing down, not Beijing compromising.

You don't publish your negotiating terms in state media before a meeting if you expect to actually negotiate. You publish them to make sure the other side walks in already losing.

https://t.co/BzOIsCTTEc