Washington, Sep 25: President Donald Trump has said that the US and China have “never gotten along better” as he reviewed bilateral ties with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. He asserted that the two countries can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.
Trump accorded a grand welcome, complete with military honours and a flyover by fighter jets, to Xi on Thursday, at the White House, followed by a meeting in the Oval Office that lasted over two hours.
At the state dinner in the East Room of the White House, Trump and Xi raised a toast to the countries’ relationship.
“Americans and Chinese have always exchanged goods, knowledge, customs, and ideas. This has been the foundation of commerce and mutual respect between our countries, and together we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations,” Trump said.
In his remarks, Xi said that China-US relations have come to another historical juncture.
“Today, President Trump and I had sincere and in-depth exchanges, and reached common understanding on many issues. This has added new substance to the constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability and provided new strategic guidance for China-US relations,” he said.
Both leaders referred to historic ties between the US and China with Trump recalling the visit of first Chinese diplomats to Boston 158 years ago. Xi reciprocated by recalling George Washington’s vast collection of Chinese porcelain and the cooperation between the two countries in the Second World War.
Xi also touched upon former Chinese president Mao Zedong and ex-US president Richard Nixon’s efforts to normalise Sino-US relations.
“Today, Sino-US relations are at a new historical starting point,” Xi said, referring to Trump’s pledge to make America great again and China’s commitment to achieving great national rejuvenation.
At the White House, the three-course dinner was a lavish blend of American ingredients with Chinese influence, showcasing the culinary traditions of both nations.
Trump gifted Xi the statue of a bald eagle, a national emblem, amid applause from the 134 guests, including tech tycoons, senior government officials and ministers from the delegations of the two nations.
“The bald eagle is a national symbol of the United States and an embodiment of the free and soaring spirit of America. We hope it will find a nice place, a wonderful place in Beijing,” Trump said.
The gathering had such guests such guests as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook, Dell’s Michael Dell.
Trump also invited the guests to look at the ballroom which is currently under construction.
Earlier, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Xi and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan at the North Portico of the White House.
A large group of protestors near the White House raised audible slogans of “Free Tibet”, “Xi Jinping, you are not welcome”; “free Hong Kong”, “free Tibet”, and “free East Turkestan.”
During the bilateral talks at the Oval Office, Xi called for translating the new vision of a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability into action and finding the right way for the two major countries to get along.
At the same time, the Chinese leader also drew the red line over the issue of Taiwan and counselled the US to handle the issue with prudence.
On AI, Xi said China and the US should leverage their strengths in the sector rather than guarding against each other.
The Chinese leader said the two countries can continue to engage in dialogue on AI, exchange views on its risks and benefits, and work together to prevent its misuse and abuse.
The two sides should maintain human control over AI technologies, uphold a people-centered approach and the principle of using AI for good, and ensure that AI serves human progress, he added.
Xi arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to visit the National Archives after having tea at the White House. ( PTI )
