While the United States continues its war with Iran, other foreign policy priorities are being sidelined.

President Trump was planning to go to China for a summit in Beijing at the end of the month, but that trip has been postponed so Trump can focus on the Middle East.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks about what China’s interests are in the conflict, why it doesn’t want to be dragged into it, and why the U.S.-China meeting, whenever it happens, is important, with David Lampton. He’s a professor emeritus and former director of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and senior research fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute.

This segment aired on March 18, 2026.