A new episode of the Lawfare Daily podcast takes up a pointed question: did Washington walk into Beijing's trap during Xi Jinping's state visit? The visit, Xi's first to Washington in 11 years, is the focus of a conversation between Lawfare Public Service Fellow Julia Curlee and Jonathan Czin, the Michael H. Armacost Chair in Foreign Policy Studies and a fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
The episode's framing suggests that the visit carried strategic risks for the United States, though the summary does not detail specific arguments or conclusions. Czin's expertise in foreign policy and China studies likely informs the discussion of what the visit signaled for bilateral relations.
Because the source is only a podcast description, the article cannot report on the substance of the analysis beyond the central question posed. Listeners would need to hear the episode to learn whether Czin believes the trap narrative holds up.