U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping [UPI=Yonhap News] 

With the U.S.-China summit scheduled for the end of this month likely to focus on trade and corporate transactions, there is an atmosphere of a pre-summit "power struggle," with China expressing dissatisfaction over the U.S. side's lack of preparation.

Bloomberg News reported on the 10th (local time), citing sources familiar with the summit preparations, that China believes the U.S. side's prior coordination and preparation are insufficient.

Another source stated that the White House's failure to share adequate information about President Donald Trump's expectations and visit objectives for China is also a source of dissatisfaction for the Chinese side.

Analysis suggests that China's dissatisfaction stems from the deviation from the usual summit preparation process.

China typically prefers to send high-level officials to coordinate agendas in advance before a presidential visit.

When President Trump visited China in 2017, the U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce visited China months in advance to coordinate the agenda.

The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported recently, citing sources, that an advance team composed of working-level U.S. officials is already in Beijing conducting preparations for a high-level summit.

As a sign that both countries maintain their will to hold the summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet this weekend in Paris, France, to discuss trade issues.

However, if sufficient prior coordination is not achieved and the two sides engage in a war of nerves, there is speculation that the summit may focus on business-to-business transactions.

Bloomberg previously reported that China is considering ordering 500 aircraft from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing, and the U.S. is reviewing the export of high-performance artificial intelligence (AI) chips produced by Nvidia to non-military Chinese companies.

Investments in electric vehicles, batteries, and artificial intelligence, as well as the expansion of people-to-people exchanges, are also being discussed as agenda items.

On the other hand, it is understood that the Chinese side strongly believes that the Taiwan issue should be the core agenda of the summit.

Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said, "From China's perspective, the most important agenda item for this meeting is not trade, investment, or technology, but the Taiwan issue."

In a phone call with President Trump in February, President Xi expressed concern over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and urged the U.S. to maintain "particular caution."

Wang Yi, China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, also emphasized at a recent annual press conference that the Taiwan issue is the "core of China's core interests" and proposed making 2026 a "milestone year" for bilateral relations.

Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is handling multiple pressing issues simultaneously, including military operations in Iran, adjustments to tariff policies, and mediation in the Russia-Ukraine war, leading to relatively tight summit preparations.