PRESS RELEASE | Trump’s Fraught Summit with Xi: Can “What Could Go Wrong” be Prevented?

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2026

CONTACTS:
Oleg Atbashian
info@PresentDangerChina.org

Trump’s Fraught Summit with Xi:
Can “What Could Go Wrong” be Prevented?

1:00–2:15 p.m. ET, May 8, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C.— President Trump often praises Chinese dictator Xi Jinping with whom he is scheduled to meet next week in Beijing. What if the feeling isn’t mutual?

After all, Xi not only has long waged “unrestricted warfare” against our country, but repeatedly undermined the Trump presidency.

For example, the Chinese Communists reneged on commitments to seal a sweeping trade deal that, if implemented, would have corrected many of their abuses and been a yuuuge win for Mr. Trump.

Next, they launched a biological warfare attack that killed a million Americans and brought to a screeching halt his then-booming economic recovery.

In addition, the Chinese reportedly used their access to U.S. vote-counting hardware and software to help prevent his reelection in 2020.

Now, Xi is rearming Iran, choking off our access to rare earth minerals and continuing his imports here of murderous fentanyl. He is even menacing American companies that have treacherously helped prop up his regime, finance its military build-up and/or transfer proprietary and, in some cases, dual-use technology by impeding their efforts to exit China and obligation to conform to U.S. sanctions.

The next Committee on the Present Danger: China webinar from 1:00-2:15 p.m. ET today will review what could go seriously wrong in a summit in Beijing with such an enemy in time of war, amidst growing bilateral tensions and given Xi’s grave economic, political and other problems for which a tempting response may be to invade Taiwan. It will also consider whether, under these circumstances, the President would be well advised to postpone the trip once again and, failing that, how the possibly grave down-side risks of holding it can be minimized.

Register to join us at PresentDangerChina.org.

What: “Trump’s Fraught Summit with Xi”

When: 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. ET today.

Who:

Moderator:

• Frank Gaffney, President, Institute for the American Future; Vice Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger: China; host, “Securing America

Panelists:

• Capt. James Fanell, U.S. Navy, (Ret.), Former Chief of Intelligence and Information Operations, U.S. Pacific Fleet; Senior Fellow, Geneva Center or Security Policy; co-author, Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure

• Charles “Sam” Faddis, Career CIA clandestine operative; veteran, U.S. Army, author of, among other works, Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA; editor, AndMagazine.Substack.com (Invited)

• Lt. Col. Guermantes Lailari, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), veteran Foreign Area Officer; Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Jewish Policy Center; former Ministry of Foreign Affairs Taiwan Fellow; former visiting researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research

• Col. Grant Newsham, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), former Foreign Service Officer; international businessman; Senior Fellow, Center for Security Policy; author, When China Attacks: A Warning to America

• Brian T. Kennedy, Chairman, Committee on the Present Danger China; President, American Strategy Group; former President, Claremont Institute; author, China’s War Inside America (Invited)

CONTACTS:
To interview representatives of the CPDC, contact Oleg Atbashian, info@PresentDangerChina.org.

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