AAP News
source: AAP
US President Donald Trump has received a grand welcome at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People ahead of talks with China’s Xi Jinping set to cover their fragile trade truce, the Iran war and US arms sales to Taiwan.
With his approval ratings dented by his entanglement in the Middle East, Trump’s hotly anticipated trip to China – the first by a US president to America’s main strategic rival since his last visit there in 2017 – has taken on added significance.
Joining him on the trip are a group of chief executives looking to resolve issues with China, including Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, a late addition.
Trump has said his first request to Xi will be to “open up” China to US industry.
Kicking off the pomp-filled two-day summit, Trump was greeted by Xi on the red carpet outside the imposing ceremonial building on Thursday, with the leaders shaking hands and smiling warmly.
A brass band played the national anthems before the presidents strolled past rows of military honour guard and children waving flowers and US and Chinese flags, with Trump occasionally patting Xi on the back.
The power dynamic has shifted since Trump’s last visit to Beijing when China went out of its way to lavish Trump and buy billions in US goods, said Ali Wyne, senior adviser for US-China relations at International Crisis Group.
Back then “China was trying to persuade the United States of its growing status … This time around it’s the United States, unprompted, of its own volition, that is acknowledging that status,” Wyne said, pointing out Trump revived the term ‘G2’, referring to a superpower duo, when he last met Xi on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in South Korea in October.
