Ahead of second day of talks with Xi, Trump says he hopes US-China ties will be 'stronger and better'
The two leaders are set to wrap up a two-day state visit following a stark warning from Xi that mishandling the Taiwan issue could push US-China relations to "a very dangerous place".
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
BEIJING: United States President Donald Trump on Friday (May 15) said he hoped Washington's relationship with China would be "stronger and better than ever before", ahead of a second day of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Trump added in his Truth Social post that Xi had congratulated him on "so many tremendous successes", including the US' relationship with Venezuela, its job market as well as its military.
The two leaders are set to meet on Friday to wrap up a two-day state visit that has featured pomp and business deals but also a stark warning from Xi that mishandling the Taiwan issue could push US-China relations to "a very dangerous place".
Trump is on the first visit by a US president to China, America's main strategic and economic rival, since a 2017 visit during his first term, and has been hoping for tangible results that might improve his dented approval ratings ahead of crucial midterm elections.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
The two leaders are scheduled to have tea and lunch before Trump flies back to the United States.
The summit has been aimed at maintaining a fragile trade truce struck when the leaders last met in October and Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of vital rare earths.
Trump has also been expected to urge China to convince Iran to make a deal with Washington to end a war unpopular with American voters.
But he has travelled to Beijing with a weakened hand after US courts limited his ability to levy tariffs at will and as price rises driven by the Iran war have made him politically vulnerable at home.
A brief US summary of Thursday's talks highlighted what the White House called the leaders' shared desire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway off Iran, through which a fifth of global supplies of oil and natural gas travel in normal times, and Xi's apparent interest in buying American oil to reduce China's dependence on Middle East supplies.
Trump told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, its first purchase of US-made commercial jets in nearly a decade.
That total was much lower than markets were expecting. Media reports had suggested the planemaker was nearing a deal to sell 500 or more airplanes to China and Boeing shares fell more than 4 per cent after the comments were aired.
STARK WARNING
Xi's remarks on Taiwan, the democratically governed island Beijing claims, represented a sharp, if not unprecedented, warning during a pomp-filled summit that otherwise appeared friendly and relaxed.
China's foreign ministry said they came in a closed-door meeting that ran more than two hours.
Taiwan, which lies just 80km off China's coast, has long been a flashpoint in US-China ties, with Beijing refusing to rule out the use of military force to gain control of the island and the United States bound by law to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is with Trump in China, told NBC News that Taiwan was discussed, saying the Chinese "always raise it ... we always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics".
"US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today," Rubio added.
Trump, who revels in grand occasions, appeared in his element in the public spectacle.
He did not respond to a reporter's shouted question whether the leaders had discussed Taiwan when he posed with Xi for photos at the Temple of Heaven UNESCO World Heritage site.
"There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever," he said earlier at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, after a ceremony that featured an honour guard and throngs of children waving flowers and flags.
At a lavish state banquet, Xi called the China-US relationship the most important in the world and added: "We must make it work and never mess it up."
China's foreign ministry said Xi had told Trump that preparatory negotiations between US and Chinese trade teams on Wednesday had reached "balanced and positive outcomes".
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led those talks, said he expected progress on establishing mechanisms to support future bilateral trade and investment, and an announcement about large Chinese orders for Boeing aircraft.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app