Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his US counterpart Donald Trump that the issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict” if mishandled, a stark opening salvo as a superpower summit set to tackle numerous thorny issues began in Beijing Thursday.
Trump had arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend”, as he predicted that their countries would have “a fantastic future together”.
But beyond the pomp as he welcomed Trump, Xi used less effusive tones, saying the two sides “should be partners and not rivals” and highlighting the issue of self-ruled democratic Taiwan — which Beijing claims as its territory — straight off the bat.
“The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation.”
The trip to Beijing is the first by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
Xi greeted Trump with a red-carpet welcome at the opulent Great Hall of the People, with military band fanfare, a gun salute and a host of schoolchildren jumping and chanting “welcome!”.
Seemingly enjoying the ceremony, Trump said that the “relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before”.
Xi instead referenced an ancient Greek political theory about the risks of war when a rising power rivals a ruling power, as he questioned if China and the US could find ways to work together as equals instead.
“Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations,” Xi asked, adding that “cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both”.
“A stable China-US relationship is a boon for the world. Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both. We should be partners and not rivals,” Xi said.
Xi added he was “happy” to receive Trump for the US leader’s first trip to China since 2017 as “the world has arrived at a new crossroads”.
He also told US CEOs accompanying Trump that China’s door would only open wider, and that he believed US companies would have broader prospects in the country, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
Xi met with the delegation of CEOs, including Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Apple’s Tim Cook in the Great Hall of the People, according to CCTV.
‘Big hug’
Top of Trump’s wish list will be business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other topics, with a host of top businessmen in the US leader’s delegation.
Aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, Trump vowed on social media to push Xi to “open up” China to US firms “so that these brilliant people can work their magic”.
But Trump is dealing with a different and more emboldened China to the one he visited nine years ago, with a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
The Iran war in particular has threatened to weaken Trump’s position in talks with Xi, having already forced him to postpone it from March.
The US president said he expected a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that “I don’t think we need any help with Iran” from Beijing.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat different tone.
“We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they are doing now, and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday.
Tariff truce?
The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump’s sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent.
Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce, which the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, although a deal is far from certain.
On Taiwan, another issue that has bedevilled ties, Trump said on Monday he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to the self-governing democracy claimed by China.
That would be a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on its support for the island, and one which will be closely watched by Taipei and US allies in the region.
China’s controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries’ raucous trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the two heads of state.
Both sides will be looking to come out of the summit with whatever wins they can, while also stabilising an often tense relationship between Beijing and Washington that has global implications.
Trump will also be hoping to leave with a firm date for a reciprocal visit by Xi to the United States later in 2026, to prove his rapport with his Chinese counterpart.
China renews licences for hundreds of US beef exporters
China also renewed export licences for hundreds of US beef processing plants, customs data showed.
More than 400 U.S. beef plants lost export eligibility over the past year as Beijing’s permissions, granted between March 2020 and April 2021, lapsed without the customary renewal, accounting for roughly 65 per cent of the once-registered facilities.
Agriculture has been expected to play a big part in any trade deal and the renewals are the first official pointer to likely elements of a final package shaping in talks between Trump and Xi.
“This shows China has released some goodwill gestures in areas that aren’t too critical to US-China trade relations,” said Xu Hongzhi, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.
