Spy scandal surrounding Nvidia chief executive unlikely to derail US-China meeting

Beijing has described American claims that it spied on Nvidia’s Jensen Huang as an attempt to smear China. But they will not derail next week’s meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.

As Xi Jinping and Donald Trump prepare to meet next week in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, a spy scandal should be the last thing either of them need.

When the US Air Force shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina three years ago, then secretary of state Tony Blinken had to postpone a planned visit to Beijing.

This time, both sides appear relatively relaxed about the claim that a woman Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had an affair with was working for the Chinese intelligence services. The foreign ministry in Beijing dismissed the story as a smear when it first appeared last month, repeating the same few words on Monday after Huang admitted to the affair.

“The so-called ‘Chinese spy’ narrative is pure speculation and a baseless smear,” spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Chinese media coverage of the story has been restrained, although some commentators suggested that the Taiwanese-born Huang was being targeted because of his Chinese ethnicity. An editorial in Global Times, an English-language daily that reflects official thinking, portrayed Huang, who moved to the US when he was nine years old, as the victim of geopolitics.

“In an environment where US competition with China is increasingly politicised, Chinese heritage can turn ordinary business ties into objects of political suspicion,” the paper said.

“Huang is a US citizen. The company he leads is a pillar of the US’ AI strength. Yet he has been swept into a media storm over alleged Chinese intelligence activity. This raises a pointed question: when an American entrepreneur’s business network intersects with China, is he seen first as an American entrepreneur – or first as an ethnic Chinese person who must face extra scrutiny?”

Huang is unusual in enjoying friendly relations and high-level access in Washington, Beijing and Taipei and he has served as a bridge between Trump and Xi. Huang flew with Trump aboard Air Force One to Beijing last May and he and his wife were on the top table with the US and Chinese presidents at the state banquet for Xi at the White House in September.

Huang is due to travel with Trump to the Philippines and China next week and the US president indicated on Monday that he saw no reason to change that plan after they spoke about the allegations.

“I asked him that question: did you have any idea that she was a spy? He said I had no idea that she was a spy, and I really believe him,” Trump told reporters.

One of the allegations is that the woman Huang had the affair with was working to circumvent US rules that forbid the export to China of Nvidia’s most advanced microchips. Export controls are expected to be on the agenda when Trump and Xi meet during the Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit in Shenzhen.

China on Monday extended until January its suspension of export controls on rare earths used in advanced manufacturing, in line with Washington’s suspension of some tariffs on China while trade talks are continuing. Vladimir Putin is expected to join Xi and Trump in Shenzhen for a trilateral meeting but the three sides have not yet agreed on the agenda.

Trump repeated on Monday his wish to discuss nuclear disarmament, something Beijing has ruled out on the basis that it has a much smaller nuclear arsenal than Moscow or Washington.

China may be willing to help with negotiations to end the war in Iran but probably by offering a platform to facilitate a deal rather than actively mediating between the parties.

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