Xi in DC
Chinese President Xi Jinping spent three days in Washington, DC last week as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen diplomatic relations between the United States and China. President Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed many issues, including artificial intelligence (AI), the U.S.-Iran war, and economic relations between the two countries, which are the two largest economies in the world. There were no formal agreements announced, though the leaders pledged to visit again in the coming months.
Analysis and eternal perspective: The diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and China is fascinating to observe, as it is both competitive—sometimes even adversarial—and mutually strategic. As the world’s two leading economies, each country depends a great deal on the other for its needs. At the same time, each is openly angling to lead the world in the decades to come. This dynamic makes a visit like last week’s both important and guarded.
Two issues are worth watching: the extent to which the two nations cooperate on advances and guardrails for AI, and China’s role in the U.S.-Iran war. The first is likely to play a major role both in which nation leads in economic matters, and which sets the standard for safety measures for the technology. The latter has the potential to significantly impede future diplomatic efforts between the two superpowers.
For Jesus followers, this story has the potential to ignite either excitement or angst (and maybe both at the same time). It is typical to consider it primarily through the geopolitical lens of which nation will have the upper hand, and there is a certain amount of utility in that consideration. However, a much more consequential component for us to consider is the state and health of the church in each country. In China, there is a long history of repression of Jesus followers, but as is so often the case, the pressure on God’s people has served to draw more precious souls to Him. In the U.S., there remains more religious freedom in a legal sense than most places in the world. This is a tremendous thing from a legal standpoint but does not automatically mean more people choose a relationship with Jesus.
Luke 21:34 warns, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.” It is easy to notice mainly this passage’s “flashy” warnings against excesses, but note it is the actions enabled by liberties that threaten to add weight to one’s heart. You know this dynamic, and so do I! It could be vices like drunkenness or carousing, or it could simply be allowing the things and cares of this world to become of more consequence to your spirit than the beautiful blessing of salvation.
Your lifetime may find you living in the world’s superpower, or perhaps it will usher in a rise or fall of your country. Either way, the cares of this world are of no consequence compared to the weight of glory!