US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday for a high-level summit focused on global conflicts, international trade and the future of artificial intelligence.
According to The Guardian, Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People — the landmark Mao-era building overlooking Tiananmen Square — for an official welcome ceremony before holding one-on-one talks with Xi.
In his opening remarks, Xi highlighted the significance of stable US-China relations, noting that 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of US independence.
Trump described Xi as a “great leader” and emphasized the longstanding relationship between them.
“I say to everybody you’re a great leader. Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true,” Trump told Xi.
The leaders are expected to discuss several major issues, including tensions in the Middle East, the ongoing US-China trade dispute, disagreements over Taiwan, and competition in the field of artificial intelligence.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, said Washington would urge China to take a more active role regarding the Iran crisis.
“We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to step back from its current actions and intentions in the Persian Gulf,” Rubio told Fox News.
He added that China remains both “our top geopolitical challenge” and “the most important relationship for us to manage.”
Beijing, meanwhile, hopes the summit will help stabilize bilateral relations and establish a more predictable framework for future trade ties.
China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, wrote in a commentary published Thursday in the Communist Party’s official newspaper that the strategic importance of US-China relations had grown amid increasing global instability.
During Trump’s previous visit to China in 2017, he became the first foreign leader in modern Chinese history to be invited to dine inside the Forbidden City, the historic imperial palace complex in Beijing.
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