China’s long-term finances are all wet as bill to maintain huge navy comes due in 2031

China’s recent state visit bought two months of trade peace. But it did not buy Beijing time on the fleet it has already launched and will soon be unable to afford.

Chinese President Xi Jinping walked a red carpet in Washington for his first state visit to the United States in more than a decade. President Donald Trump greeted him at Joint Base Andrews. There were troop reviews, a state dinner, pandas, an artificial intelligence (AI) "dialogue" and a two-month extension of a trade truce now set to expire Jan.