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Josephine Ma

Orange Wang

US President Donald Trump arrived in China – flanked by his top aides and American tech leaders – on Wednesday night as Beijing rolled out a lavish welcome ceremony at the airport.
He was received by Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng at Beijing Capital International Airport.
Trump’s entourage includes Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and a last-minute addition to the trip, as well as US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and Tim Cook of Apple.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who wrapped up the latest trade talks with China in Seoul, South Korea, will join the president in Beijing.


Unlike his first visit to Beijing, the US leader was not joined by first lady Melania Trump. Instead, he was accompanied by his son Eric Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
Though Trump stayed on the runway only briefly before entering his official vehicle, known as “the Beast”, Beijing rolled out an elaborate ceremony featuring over 100 flag-waving youth as well as a military band and honour guards.
The reception is higher in protocol than Trump’s 2017 trip to Beijing, when he was received at the airport by then state councillor Yang Jiechi.
It is his first trip to China since 2017, and the first meeting between the two leaders on a state visit since Trump returned to the White House.
Before boarding Marine One for Andrews Air Force Base, Trump struck an optimistic tone, saying he expected “great things” from the summit and Xi was “a friend” with whom he shared a strong personal relationship.
“I spoke with Xi, we both look forward to the meeting,” Trump said. “We’ll be talking about many things, but more than anything, it will be trade.”
He said he did not expect Iran to feature prominently in discussions with Xi, adding that “we have Iran very much under control”.
The remarks came a day after Trump dismissed Tehran’s latest peace proposal as “garbage” and said the existing ceasefire was “on life support”.


On Wednesday, before the US president’s arrival, the Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing welcomed Trump for a state visit to China.
“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-US relations,” ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
“The two heads of state will engage in an in-depth exchange of views on major issues concerning China-US relations, as well as world peace and development,” Guo said.
“China stands ready to work with the United States in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit – expanding cooperation, managing differences and injecting greater stability and certainty into a turbulent and changing world.”
Earlier, Trump posted on social media that he would “be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic”, referring to more than a dozen business executives travelling with him on Air Force One.
The summit comes at a delicate moment for the bilateral relationship, with both sides seeking to prevent tensions from spiralling further after months of tariff disputes and export controls.
The two countries are engaged in fierce competition in fields ranging from the military to artificial intelligence (AI), and are at odds over various security issues, including the South China Sea and the Middle East.
Beijing and Washington must reach a “minimum political consensus” to prevent bilateral tensions from “deteriorating without limit”, said Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Shenzhen campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In an article published by the Shenzhen-based think tank Institute of International Affairs, Qianhai, which he heads, Zheng said: “There must be boundaries and stable mechanisms. Political mutual trust is very important.”
“A summit is the most effective mechanism for building political mutual trust.”
Rubio is the first sitting US secretary of state under Chinese sanctions to visit Beijing.
He is widely viewed as a leading contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, with polls consistently placing him among the front runners. Although no one has declared their candidacy this far out, Trump has already floated the idea of a “dream team ticket” pairing Rubio with Vice-President J.D. Vance.


Hegseth is the first Pentagon chief to accompany a sitting US president to Beijing in decades. It is Hegseth’s first trip to China since taking up the post, and he is the first US defence chief to visit the country in nearly eight years.
Other members of Trump’s inner circle to join the delegation include White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller and deputy chief of staff James Blair. White House communications director Steven Cheung, deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel and the president’s science and technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, are part of the delegation too.
Tensions have simmered in recent weeks, with Washington imposing new tech restrictions on Chinese AI as well as sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals for allegedly supplying key products to Iran.
“China and the US have effectively reached some ‘self-evident’ basic consensus,” Zheng said. He noted that Beijing and Washington had realised that by working together they could solve many international problems, but a confrontation or conflict would lead to mutual losses for both sides and accelerate the breakdown of the global order.
Trade is expected to dominate much of the agenda, with Washington pushing Beijing to buy more US agricultural products, aircraft and energy exports, while pressing China on market access and industrial subsidies. Beijing, meanwhile, is expected to seek relief from US technology restrictions, particularly curbs on advanced semiconductors.


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The US president is greeted with elaborate ceremony as he arrives in Beijing for his first trip to China since 2017


The US president is greeted with elaborate ceremony as he arrives in Beijing for his first trip to China since 2017.


Trump arrives in China with tech titans and top aides for high-stakes Xi summit

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The US president is greeted with elaborate ceremony as he arrives in Beijing for his first trip to China since 2017

The US president is greeted with elaborate ceremony as he arrives in Beijing for his first trip to China since 2017