Henry Huiyao Wang Interviewed by Forbes on Trump’s to China
CCG President tells Forbes that the two leaders may focus on Iran, Ukraine, trade, Taiwan, and broader efforts to stabilise the international system.
In anticipation of Trump’s China visit, we are sharing below the Forbes interview with Henry Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), published on 26 April 2026.
Trump-Xi Meeting In Beijing Likely To Discuss Iran: Top China Expert
By Russell Flannery, Senior Contributor.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely aim during their planned meeting in Beijing on May 14-15 to stabilize the crisis in Iran that has shaken energy markets and raised worries of a wider war, the president of one of China’s top foreign affairs think tanks said in an interview.
“I think first of all, they’re going to stabilize the current crisis in Iran,” said Henry Huiyao Wang, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, in Delphi, Greece to attend the annual Delphi Economic Forum held April 22-25.
“Chinese Foreign Minister (Wang Yi) has made nearly 30 phone calls with his counterparts of the whole region and all Security Council members” and European Union regarding the conflict, Wang said. “China has a strong influence with Pakistan, and hopefully we’ll get some consensus and then promote peace and stability,” with both the U.S. and China resultantly deepening their influence in the region, he said on Friday.
“China could be a very quiet promoter on this. China could do more in promoting the peace in Iran in crisis,” owing in part to its influence in the country as well as China being the largest trading partner with both Iran and all Gulf countries in nearby Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, said Wang, a former China Commerce Ministry official. Just this month, Xi spoke with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to China, and talked in the past week to Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. For its part, the U.S. yesterday called off talks in Pakistan with Iran after Tehran was reported to have said it wouldn’t hold direct meetings with American negotiators.
The U.S. and Chinese leaders are also likely to discuss ways to solve the conflict in the Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the nation. “President Trump also has been working on the Ukraine-Russia issue for a long time,” Wang said. “He needs China to help to stabilize and promote the peace in Ukraine-Russia,” said Wang.
Beyond the two regional conflicts, Trump and Xi will also likely try to stabilize broader bilateral U.S.-China ties that have been strained by disputes including geopolitics and trade, he said. Other nations would be pleased with improvement so that they “don’t have to pick sides and you can get some positive things going on for the time to come,” Wang said.
Trump and Xi may agree to the formation of trade board and an investment board between China and the U.S., he said. “That would be a great mechanism to establish, so that both sides can see what traded items they can purchase from each other, in order to increase their imports and exports as well as their investment,” Wang said. The boards would establish guidelines for sensitive and non-sensitive items for trade and similar areas for investment, Wang predicted. ‘Those are the things I think will be greatly discussed.”
Other issues likely to be raised include the lowering U.S. tariffs on fentanyl and the Chinese opening of free visas for Americans to come to China, as well as longstanding differences over the status of Taiwan, the thriving self-governing global tech hub over which Beijing claims sovereignty. Beijing will ask Trump to denounce Taiwan’s independence and support peaceful reunification, Wang also said.
Among his takeaways from this week’s Delphi Economic Forum, Wang noted an interest in global governance issues. “There was a lot of global governance talk,” he said. “People want a new multi-polar world, but then support global governance and a multilateral system. So that is still the main consensus we hear from here. We can’t just let the global system break down.”
A second focus was the future of Europe. “The Europeans have to really overcome their domestic challenges, populism and economic nationalism. There was a lot of discussion on that,” Wang said.
And third hot topic was complex China-U.S. relations. “There’s more talk about China-U.S. collaboration. There’s high hope that China-U.S. and EU can work together to stabilize the world,” Wang found.
And finally, energy disruptions were a great concern. “There is enormous worry from the Arab world and Global South, particularly from ASEAN countries, and Japan, South Korea and the like, because they’re heavily dependent on energy flows coming from the Middle East. That has become a choke point now,” Wang said.
Wang holds an undergraduate degree in English and American literature from the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. He pursued MBA and PhD studies at the University of Windsor, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Manchester, where he obtained a PhD in International Management. He has been appointed a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Brookings and taught as an adjunct professor at Peking University, Tsinghua University, China University of Foreign Affairs, and the University of Western Ontario Richard Ivey Business School.
See also Wang’s interview with Semafor:
Trump-Xi summit could see more Chinese investment in US, China expert says
