Beijing says two sides need to act on 'common understandings'
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he departs Beijing Capital International Airport aboard Air Force One on May 15. © Reuters
SHANGHAI/TOKYO -- U.S. President Donald Trump made his first visit to China in nearly nine years, as the rival superpowers sought to stabilize their fraught relationship.
The American president arrived Wednesday evening and left on Friday. The visit included plenty of face time with Chinese President Xi Jinping, from formal bilateral talks to a state banquet, tea and lunch.
The leaders are understood to have discussed the Iran war, trade, tensions over Taiwan, and artificial intelligence. Trump brought an entourage of corporate executives including Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook and Nvidia's Jensen Huang.
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7:15 p.m. Trump has spoken to a press gaggle aboard Air Force One. He touches on his conversations with Xi about Taiwan, Iran, Boeing jets and other matters.
Here's the full video from the White House's YouTube channel.
5:05 p.m. "No major breakthroughs were expected and none were achieved" at the summit, says Stephen Olson, senior visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and a former U.S. trade negotiator. "But both countries got what they needed from this summit: a bit of additional stability."
He argues: "Trump approaches summits with Xi looking for 'deals' he can tout as 'wins.' Xi approaches these summits looking to reframe the relationship in ways that support the achievement of China's long-term objectives."
3:15 p.m. In a regular daily briefing, China's foreign ministry spokesperson offers few specifics.
"China-U.S. economic trade ties are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature," Guo Jiakun says. "Both sides need to act on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state and inject greater stability into bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and the world economy."
He says the two sides reached "important understandings on maintaining economic and trade ties," and expanding cooperation in various areas.
On the case of Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon and rights activist, he called him a "mastermind" behind the protests that shook the city back in 2019 and stressed that the matter is an internal affair. The Trump administration had signaled that it would press for the ailing 78-year-old's release.
2:50 p.m. A Reuters report offers details of a conversation between Trump and Xi in the garden of Zhongnanhai, picked up on a microphone.
"Let me tell you, all the trees on this side are over 200 to 300 years old," Xi said via a translator. "Over there, there are some more than 400 years old."
