Trump and Xi strike cordial tone despite deep US-China divisions

US President Donald Trumphosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit marked by elaborate ceremony and a show of harmony, despite deep divisions over Taiwan, trade and the Iran war, with few concrete results emerging from the talks on Thursday.

Trump received Xi in Washington with considerable pomp and lavished praise on him, while Xi responded with warm words of his own but also issued cautionary remarks.

“President Xi and I both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure, and we’ve never gotten along better,” Trump said.

He praised Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan as “truly outstanding, amazing people” and presented them with a statue of a bald eagle, the country’s official national symbol.

Xi in turn thanked Trump and his wife Melania for their “gracious hospitality” during the visit.

He said talks between the two countries had led to “common understanding” on many issues and “new strategic guidance” for China-US relations.

Xi urged both countries to act responsibly, saying China and the US were once again at a “historic starting point.” Both sides should show responsibility and find a new way for major powers to get along, he said.

Xi invited 100,000 US nationals to study in China, while Beijing is set to continue its panda diplomacy by sending two pandas to a US zoo as a signal of friendship.

Trump announced “decisions” would be made on key issues such as “security, technology and super intelligence,” the US president’s preferred new term for AI and a crucial arena of competition between the two countries.

Xi’s visit was overshadowed by a dispute between Trump and US media organizations over access to the White House.

Major US broadcasters aired significantly less coverage of the summit on Thursday than is customary for such meetings, and no live broadcast was provided.

The background to the dispute is Trump’s decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and the news portal Politico from the White House, accusing them of spreading false information.

Critics described the move as an attempt at intimidation and an attack on press freedom.

During his earlier bilateral meeting with Trump at the White House, Xi went on to say that the two had reached numerous new points of agreement in an open and intensive exchange – without giving further details.

According to China’s official news agency Xinhua, the two discussed the situation in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Xi also underlined China’s stance on Taiwan and expressed the hope that “the US would maintain its correct stance against Taiwan independence'” and “handle the Taiwan issue prudently.”

The US has been selling arms to the island state, which has been governed independently and democratically for decades, while Beijing lays claim to Taiwan and does not rule out military action to seize the island.

The US government has traditionally and deliberately left open the question of whether the US military would come to Taiwan’s aid in the event of an attack.

Washington rolled out the red carpet to welcome the Chinese delegation on Wednesday evening.

The welcome ceremony also included a 21-person guard of honour, a battery salute from cannons and the US Air Force band playing both national anthems.

The former US ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, considers the lavish welcome for Xi to be misguided.

Burns said he had spent a great deal of time with Xi himself and found him to be tenacious and pragmatic.

“His overall strategy is to undermine the United States,” Burns, who now teaches at Harvard University, told the broadcaster PBS. “I don’t think that Xi Jinping is going to be swayed by flattery.”

Xi concludes his visit to Washington on Friday.

Before his departure, he plans to meet Trump once more during a tea ceremony scheduled for the morning, followed by a visit to the National Archives to view the founding documents of the US.

The US celebrated its 250th anniversary in July.

Xi last visited the US in 2023, when he travelled to California for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic summit and met Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.

This is his first trip to the White House since 2015, during Barack Obama’s presidency, although the Chinese president visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017.

Trump invited Xi to the White House during his own visit to Beijing in mid-May.

The trip got off to an auspicious start as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a two-month extension to the trade truce between the two superpowers late on Wednesday.

Bessent told Fox News the two countries’ trade truce had been extended after he and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held an unscheduled meeting in Washington.

China did not immediately comment on the announcement.

ANEWS wp:paragraph