WASHINGTON, Sept 25 — US President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House yesterday for a lavish summit heavy on symbolism but light on substance, with no sign of breakthroughs on thorny issues such as AI, trade, Taiwan and the war with Iran.
The two leaders and their wives attended a state dinner, a black-tie affair featuring sesame-crusted sea bass and a guest list heavy with tech CEOs. Outside the gates, a group of protesters shouted slogans including “China out of Hong Kong”, which were clearly audible to the leaders as they posed for pictures on the red-carpeted White House steps.
In his dinner toast, Trump said he and Xi “both understand we represent different systems but the ties between our people endure and we’ve never gotten along better”.
Trump then invited dinner guests to tour the site of the new ballroom he is building nearby, hours after showing Xi a helipad he had built in the White House complex. Construction projects are a frequent digression for a president who has placed considerable focus on remaking Washington’s physical infrastructure.
Xi said he and Trump had held in-depth discussions and reached “common understanding on many issues” that provided “new strategic guidance for China-US relations”. He did not elaborate.
“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries,” he said, calling for “a new approach for major countries to get along with each other”.
The meeting was striking for where it took place — in Washington, even as scores of world leaders were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
It came amid rising public concern over the rapid growth of AI and as Trump struggles to resolve a war his administration and Israel began with Iran, which has sharply driven up energy prices and weighed heavily on his public approval as November’s midterm elections approach.
Taiwan talks
During bilateral talks in the afternoon, Xi urged the US to oppose “Taiwan independence”, according to a readout from China’s official news agency, addressing one of the thorniest issues between the two countries. The White House had yet to provide its own summary of the talks.
Xi had been expected to press Trump this week to halt arms sales to Taiwan. Following his visit to China in May, Trump said he was holding in abeyance an arms package to Taiwan worth about US$14 billion and called it a “very good negotiating chip”.
That move left some US allies in Asia and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans concerned that he could soften Washington’s support for Taipei in exchange for economic gains. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its territory and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island.
The summit came shortly after Trump forcefully defended his use of military power in a speech at the UN earlier this week, suggesting he could “annihilate” Iran. He struck a markedly different tone with Xi on Thursday, following a trade war that ended with the US retreating from some of its tariff measures.
In remarks after Xi’s arrival, Trump emphasised his “truly great friendship” with the Chinese leader rather than focusing on policy differences, and said the two powers had made strides on trade since his trip to China in May.
Xi, meanwhile, said the two countries’ interests were deeply intertwined and that competition between them should be a “healthy one”. US companies were welcome in China, he said, adding that he hoped “Chinese companies are treated fairly here in the United States”.
Xi also said the two countries’ militaries should maintain regular dialogue to improve crisis prevention.
Personal vs national
Edgard Kagan, a former senior White House official for East Asia, said the contrasting rhetoric demonstrated the different strategies adopted by the two leaders.
“The president is casting it very much as about his personal relationship with Xi,” said Kagan, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“What I found interesting was Xi is being much more cautious and suggesting that it’s less about the personal relationship than the national relationship.”
The summit, Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade, was the second meeting this year between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
For Trump, who relishes ceremony and prizes his ties with powerful leaders, the visit was as much a matter of national prestige as an opportunity for high-stakes diplomacy.
However, Trump and Xi’s remarks were not carried live by any US television networks, which refused to provide footage in protest against the White House’s ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico.
During his remarks, Xi said both countries must “ensure that the development of AI is always under human control”.
Analysts say intense competition between the two powers in AI is likely to limit the scope for anything beyond symbolic agreements.
There has also been little indication that Beijing is willing to pressure Iran to yield to US demands. During Thursday’s meeting, Xi expressed support for the US and Iran returning to a ceasefire and eventually negotiating a peace deal, Xinhua reported.
The guest list for the state dinner included tech executives such as Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
Despite the presence of leading technology executives, people familiar with US plans said Trump was likely to maintain firm export controls on US technology that Xi wants loosened.
