US president Donald Trump hailed the “truly great friendship” he has developed with Xi Jinping as the Chinese president began his state visit to the United States on Thursday. In his opening remarks before the formal talks at the White House, Xi told Trump that he is “ready to work with you to steer the giant ship of China-US relationship on a steady course toward the future,” and that the two countries “must hold the line of no conflict and no confrontation.” The Chinese leader underlined that China and the United States are the two superpowers that “facing the changes in our world, in our times, and of historical significance today”, they “shoulder a historic responsibility of advancing human development and progress”. But moving on, Trump said the US and China were working towards “more balanced” trade relations and that their talks would focus on foreign affairs, trade, financial cooperation, security and artificial intelligence which they identified as a major topic.
In turn, Xi said he hopes “Chinese companies are treated fairly here in the United States” while China would welcome US companies there and that “competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds.” China has resisted the Trump administration’s urging and economic threats to use its considerable leverage to convince Iran to agree to US terms to end the Iran war, even if China which is far more dependent on Gulf oil than the US. China condemned the US and Israeli war on Iran and Xi previously expressed concerns that the conflict signalled a return to what he then called “the law of the jungle”. Xi is expected to press Trump again, in the same way as he did when the two leaders met in Beijing in May, to permanently end arms sales to Taiwan as China has made clear that it views Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in the US-China relationship.
Back in May, Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China. On trade, China is pushing for the US to loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips. The two sides agreed on Wednesday to extend by two months a one-year trade truce that was set to expire on November 10 as they work to find a more durable agreement.
Xi also referred to AI in his opening comments, saying that the two countries had a responsibility to ensure that humans always operate AI. Trump said in a social media post earlier Thursday that artificial intelligence will be high on the agenda amid growing global anxiety that the technology threatens humanity. As the two leaders wrapped up their opening remarks, Xi also announced that China will invite 100,000 American youth to come to his country for studies and exchanges in the next five years and that China will send two pandas to the zoo in Atlanta.
He called the beloved animals an “envoy of friendship.”
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