STARK WARNING
Xi’s remarks on Taiwan, the democratically governed island Beijing claims, represented a sharp, if not unprecedented, warning during a pomp-filled summit that otherwise appeared friendly and relaxed.
China’s foreign ministry said they came in a closed-door meeting that ran more than two hours.
Taiwan, which lies just 80km off China’s coast, has long been a flashpoint in US-China ties, with Beijing refusing to rule out the use of military force to gain control of the island and the United States bound by law to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is with Trump in China, told NBC News that Taiwan was discussed, saying the Chinese “always raise it … we always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics”.
“US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today,” Rubio added.
Trump, who revels in grand occasions, appeared in his element in the public spectacle.
He did not respond to a reporter’s shouted question whether the leaders had discussed Taiwan when he posed with Xi for photos at the Temple of Heaven UNESCO World Heritage site.
“There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever,” he said earlier at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, after a ceremony that featured an honour guard and throngs of children waving flowers and flags.
At a lavish state banquet, Xi called the China-US relationship the most important in the world and added: “We must make it work and never mess it up.”
China’s foreign ministry said Xi had told Trump that preparatory negotiations between US and Chinese trade teams on Wednesday had reached “balanced and positive outcomes”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led those talks, said he expected progress on establishing mechanisms to support future bilateral trade and investment, and an announcement about large Chinese orders for Boeing aircraft.
