US President Donald Trump departed Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that covered Iran, Taiwan, trade, oil and Boeing aircraft, with both sides claiming progress in stabilising relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Xi welcomed Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, for the final round of talks before the US leader returned to Washington. Over nearly three hours of meetings on Friday, with top aides and translators in attendance, Xi described the visit as a “milestone” and said the two countries had established a “constructive, strategic, stable relationship.” State media reported Xi framed the new track as “strategic stability” for the next three years.
Trump said in a Fox News interview that China had agreed to purchase US oil and to buy 200 Boeing aircraft — claims that Beijing has not formally confirmed. He told reporters at Zhongnanhai it had been “a great couple of days” and added on Truth Social that Xi had congratulated him on “tremendous successes in such a short period of time.”
The most concrete new deliverable was Trump’s invitation to Xi to make a state visit to the White House on September 24, announced at the state dinner on Thursday evening in a video released by the White House. China has yet to confirm acceptance, although state media noted Trump’s invitation. The two leaders could also meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 in Florida in December.
Both sides flagged Iran as an area of partial progress. According to the White House, the two governments “agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy,” and Trump said Beijing had reassured Washington it would not supply Iran with military equipment. Taiwan remained the sharpest point of friction: Xi warned that disagreements over the island could lead to “clashes or conflict,” echoing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Thursday warning that any forcible takeover would be a “terrible mistake”.
Ryan Fedasiuk of the American Enterprise Institute said the summit had left “a lot on the tree to ripen further,” and Hai Zhao of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told Ada Derana the September 24 trip would be treated by Beijing as a reciprocal state visit. The Iran deliverables build on earlier reporting that Trump had publicly aired Xi’s mediation offer on Iran, which Rubio quickly downplayed.
