Dear Focus Reader,

Attention turns to Washington this week, as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet at the White House on September 24, marking their second meeting of the year and Xi's first White House visit in a decade. The summit comes as the two countries continue to navigate trade, technology restrictions, the Iran conflict, and artificial intelligence. Analysts remain cautious about the prospects for major breakthroughs at the summit, though AI could provide an opening for cooperation on shared risks and governance.

Diplomatic engagement is already underway ahead of the meeting. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke by phone on September 17 about preparations for the next stage of high-level engagement and exchanged views on the situation in the Middle East. Wang said the two sides should approach their engagement aiming for "equality, respect and mutual benefit."

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday, ahead of Xi's trip. Bessent described the talks as "very successful," with AI and trade among the issues discussed. He noted that the two sides discussed setting up a "U.S.-China AI Dialogue," as well as a new AI safety notification mechanism for incidents with national-security implications. On trade, the leaders moved to operationalize a "Board of Trade" for a limited group of non-sensitive goods, including consumer and low-tech products, energy, agricultural goods and potentially medical devices. The current tariff truce remains set to expire on November 10, while critical-mineral access and other trade issues remain unresolved.

In Hong Kong, the city bid farewell to the Honorable Tung Chee Hwa, CUSEF's Founder and Chairman Emeritus, last week, with a state funeral held on September 20 and public condolence venues open from September 18-20. As the city continues to honor Hong Kong's first Chief Executive, CUSEF has established a lasting tribute to Mr. Tung, bringing together reflections from friends, colleagues, and leaders around the world to commemorate the life of service he led and the responsibility to carry forward the work he began.