US President Donald Trump praised the “very positive” talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday, in remarks he made during a lavish banquet in Beijing attended by top US leaders and business figures, including Elon Musk and Tim Cook.
His trip to Beijing was the first by a US president in nearly a decade, and the grand reception belied a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
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The two leaders concluded the first full day of the closely watched summit in the Chinese capital with a banquet held in a red-carpeted dining room in the luxurious Great Hall of the People adjacent to Tiananmen Square.
“There are those who say this could be the biggest summit ever,” Trump told Xi after a ceremony featuring an honor guard and crowds of children waving flowers and flags in the Great Hall.
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Trump also said he invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House on September 24.
Live images broadcast before the leaders arrived showed a jovial atmosphere, with several senior officers of China’s ruling Communist Party seen chatting and smiling with members of the Trump administration.
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Servers dressed in traditional red were seen moving between the colorfully decorated tables, as attendees dined on dishes including roast Peking duck, pork buns and tiramisu.
In his remarks at the banquet, Xi said China’s progress could go “hand in hand” with “Make America Great Again” – a direct reference to Trump’s signature political slogan.
Trump has not mentioned the sensitive Taiwan issue since his arrival in Beijing on Wednesday evening, ignoring multiple questions from reporters on the topic after his talks with Xi.
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Friday’s agenda will include further talks between the two leaders, as well as a tea party, before Trump boards Air Force One on his way back to Washington.
The thorny issue of Taiwan
Xi told Trump that trade talks were making progress at the start of the two-day summit on Thursday, but warned that the dispute over Taiwan could push relations down a dangerous path and even lead to conflict.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Xi’s comments about Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by Beijing, came during a closed meeting of the leaders of the world’s two largest economies that lasted more than two hours.
Following Xi Jinping’s comments, Taipei called China “the only threat” to regional peace, insisting that “the American side has repeatedly affirmed its clear and firm support.”
But Trump said on Monday that he would talk to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, a departure from the United States’ historic insistence that it would not consult Beijing on the issue.
Adam Nee, Newsletter Editor China NikkanHe said Agence France-Presse Although such “brusque language” was not unusual in Chinese foreign policy, it was unusual coming from Xi himself.
“Xi wants to make it very clear… He believes the Taiwan issue is a potential powder keg between the two superpowers,” Ni added.
China “indicates its desire to reach a US settlement on Taiwan in the run-up to the summit,” said Chung Ja-ian of the National University of Singapore. Agence France-Presse.
He added that Xi’s request may indicate that “they see some opportunity to impress Trump.”
It was a stark – if not unprecedented – warning during a pomp-filled occasion that was otherwise cordial and relaxed, though the US summary of the talks made no mention of Taiwan.
Instead, it focused on the leaders’ shared desire to reopen the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz and Xi’s apparent interest in purchasing American oil to reduce China’s dependence on Middle Eastern supplies.
Washington and Beijing have long clashed over a wide range of issues, including trade, technology and Taiwan. Relations have become more complicated since the United States and Israel launched war on Iran – which relied on China as the largest buyer of oil – on February 28.
Xi also told Trump that preparatory negotiations between the US and Chinese economic and trade teams in South Korea on Wednesday reached “balanced and positive results,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a summary.
The talks are aimed at preserving the fragile trade truce reached when the leaders last met in October, with Trump suspending three-figure tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backing away from strangling global supplies of vital rare earths.
Earlier, Xi gave Trump a warm welcome on the red carpet in the luxurious Great Hall of the People, amid the noise of the military band and gun salutes, and a group of school children jumped up and chanted “Hello!”
Trump, who seemed to enjoy the ceremony, said, “The relationship between China and the United States will be better than ever.”
