Pekingology Ambassador Dan Kritenbrink on US-China Summits and Strategy
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Sep 17, 2026 Daniel Kritenbrink, veteran U.S. diplomat and former ambassador to Vietnam, draws on decades of China policy experience to examine Xi Jinping’s leadership and China’s global ambitions. He discusses summit diplomacy, lessons from the 2015 Xi-Obama meeting, and the challenge of preventing conflict. The conversation explores the fragile U.S.-China truce, technology controls, Taiwan, trade, tariffs, and the limits of personal diplomacy.
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Xi Jinping’s Confidence Grew Into Dominance
- Daniel Kritenbrink describes Xi Jinping as decisive, calm, sophisticated, and increasingly confident over decades of meetings.
- Chinese contacts once expected collective leadership; Xi instead became arguably China’s strongest leader since Mao.
Xi’s Risk Taking Comes From Survival
- Xi’s background taught him to seize initiative, keep adversaries off balance, and act decisively while accepting calculated risks.
- Kritenbrink links this mindset to China’s greater assertiveness in maritime, Taiwan, economic, and technology policy.
China Wants To Manage America’s Decline
- Chinese leaders prioritize Communist Party rule, regional primacy, global influence, and managing perceived American decline.
- Kritenbrink warns that overwhelming Chinese confidence could encourage Beijing to overplay its hand.