Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to press the U.S. to shift its policy on Taiwan when he meets this week with President Donald Trump, who is pushing for a trade deal.

I T IS THE start of the most important week of diplomacy for Donald Trump since he returned to office. A meeting between the American president and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is planned for October 30th and comes after Mr Trump’s whistlestop tour of many of his country’s most important Asian allies.

This comes day after Trump has threatened to impose new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and introduce additional trade restrictions starting November 1

Speculation about Xi's grip on power intensified during secret meeting that lays out the country's economic agenda for the next five years.

Mr Xi is firmly in charge, and unabashed about showing the party and the world that he will dump anyone deemed to be a bad actor. It was unclear what, exactly, the purged officials had done to deserve their punishment.

Nearly one in six officials who had Central Committee seats were absent from a major conclave, many of them now disgraced.

The officials were accused of major financial crimes, sparking intense speculation about instability within Xi Jinping’s regime. Reports suggested that President Xi might be under internal pressure after loyalists were removed from power.

The Chinese Communist Party reaffirmed President Xi Jinping's core leadership, concluding a four-day meeting with a major military purge and a new five-year plan aiming for economic self-reliance. The session saw the expulsion of top military officials amidst anti-corruption campaigns,