<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Xi Jinping called for Washington and Beijing to be \u201cpartners not rivals\u201d as two days of talks with US President Donald Trump kicked off on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The day began with Xi welcoming US President Trump with a handshake at the opulent Great Hall of the People.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Accompanied by Trump, Xi shook hands with several US officials, including Pentagon Peter Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was known throughout his career as a fierce opponent of Beijing.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Trump and Xi stood in the centre as a Chinese military band played The Star-Spangled Banner<\/em> and then the Chinese national anthem as cannons fired.<\/p>\n Jumping schoolchildren in brightly coloured outfits waving US and Chinese flags chanted \u201cwelcome, welcome\u201d as Trump and Xi walked past them in the square.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a great leader, sometimes people don\u2019t like me saying it, but I say it anyway,\u201d Trump later told Xi as they sat across from each other, flanked by their delegations.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever \u2026 It\u2019s an honour to be with you. It\u2019s an honour to be your friend and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n For his part, the Chinese president said the two countries should be \u201cpartners and not rivals\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cA 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,\u201d Xi said.<\/p>\n Xi added he was \u201chappy\u201d to receive Trump for the US leader\u2019s first trip to China since 2017 as \u201cthe world has arrived at a new crossroads\u201d.<\/p>\n At the same time, Chinese state media said Xi told Trump that their countries could come into conflict if the Taiwan issue is mishandled.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,\u201d Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The two leaders will also enjoy a state banquet at the hall in the evening, and Trump will visit the historic Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage site where China\u2019s emperors once prayed for a good harvest.<\/p>\n The US president arrived for the two-day summit on Air Force One late on Wednesday accompanied by top CEOs, including Nvidia\u2019s Jensen Huang and Tesla\u2019s Elon Musk \u2014 symbols of business deals Trump hopes to reach.<\/p>\n The trip to Beijing marks the first by a US president in nearly a decade, after Trump visited in 2017, accompanied \u2014 unlike this time \u2014 by his wife Melania.<\/p>\n Top of Trump\u2019s wish list will be business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other topics, with a host of top businessmen in the US leader\u2019s delegation.<\/p>\n Aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, Trump vowed on social media to push Xi to \u201copen up\u201d China to US firms \u201cso that these brilliant people can work their magic\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Iran war in particular has threatened to weaken Trump\u2019s position in talks with Xi, having already forced him to postpone it from March.<\/p>\n The US president said he expected a \u201clong talk\u201d with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that \u201cI don\u2019t think we need any help with Iran\u201d from Beijing.<\/p>\n US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat different tone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told broadcaster Fox News<\/em> in an interview aired Wednesday.<\/p>\n The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump\u2019s sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n China\u2019s controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries\u2019 raucous trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the two heads of state.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n China also renewed export licences for hundreds of US beef processing plants, customs data showed.<\/p>\n More than 400 U.S. beef plants lost export eligibility over the past year as Beijing\u2019s permissions, granted between March 2020 and April 2021, lapsed without the customary renewal, accounting for roughly 65 per cent of the once-registered facilities.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis shows China has released some goodwill gestures in areas that aren\u2019t too critical to US-China trade relations,\u201d said Xu Hongzhi, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2018Big hug\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Tariff truce?<\/h2>\n
<\/a>China renews licences for hundreds of US beef exporters<\/h2>\n