Big picture or big deals? What the Xi-Trump summit holds for China and the US

Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan shared a light moment with Melania Trump on Wednesday as the two women renewed an acquaintance dating back to the Trumps’ first term in the White House. The first ladies smiled as they greeted each other at the foot of the aircraft stairs at Joint Base Andrews, where Peng arrived with President Xi Jinping for a visit to Washington. Walking behind their husbands along the red carpet, Peng gestured towards the honour guard, apparently remarking on the soldiers’...

There are growing calls for Washington and Beijing to agree to slow down development of artificial intelligence. But even if they wanted to do so, how could they verify that the other side would do the same? A group of researchers and start-ups is developing technology intended to make this a possibility, without relying on trust alone. Their proposed tools would allow third parties and governments to check some claims about how AI models are being trained or used – possibly without needing...

Hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the US for a high-stakes summit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to restrict visas for those who “engage in or facilitate” birth tourism, a practice the Trump administration has increasingly accused China of. “By restricting visa issuance of those who both engage in and profit from this fraud, we are sending a clear message: the United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system and violate the sanctity of US...

Chinese President Xi Jinping landed at Joint Base Andrews late Wednesday afternoon after a 15-hour flight where he was met on the tarmac by US President Donald Trump in an unusual move for a top American leader as the two sides extended a trade truce. The closely watched visit – Xi’s first summit in the United States in 11 years – comes as the two nations grapple with a host of thorny issues beneath the flowery language and statements of friendship, including artificial intelligence, critical...

A country’s diaspora can be a symbol of its pride and power. A nation’s diaspora can help it build international value through success stories, promote its soft power through culture and contribute to its economic progress through remittances, investments and transfers of expertise. India and China have among the world’s largest diasporas. They also offer two very different models of how countries can leverage their diasporas. In India, before the 1991 reforms, people mostly saw those who left...

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account. Unrivalled Xi-Trump summit analysis: get real-time updates and exclusive boots-on-the-ground reporting from our US and China bureaus. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. President Xi Jinping met US President Donald Trump at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews airbase, in the first face-to-face talks between the Chinese and American leaders since Trump visited Beijing in May. On this first...

US President Donald Trump has been very eager to show off to Chinese leader Xi Jinping his new US$5 million White House helipad, his latest bid to stamp his image on Washington. While Xi might act impressed and compliment the US president on his latest building project – part of Trump’s bid to match Xi’s splendour-filled hosting four months ago in Beijing and show the Chinese that Americans can build infrastructure too – do not count on Xi actually trying it out with a chopper ride this week...

A grand military welcome, a state dinner, tea at the White House and a tour of the National Archives: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington will see his American counterpart, Donald Trump, roll out the pomp and pageantry. The United States’ capital is bracing for high-level bilateral discussions served with a side of symbolic gestures, marking Xi’s first state visit to the country since 2015. But what exactly makes this a state visit, and how does it differ from other official...

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that his country “is not neutral” on the Taiwan Strait, pledging support for the self-ruled island and calling for its “full and meaningful participation” in the UN system. Casting a conflict in the strait as a potentially far greater threat than the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Pena warned of “ominous clouds gathering over the Indo-Pacific” and of a conflict that would hit Japan, the rest of East and...

As Chinese President Xi Jinping makes his high-profile state visit to the US, Americans’ views of China remain negative but have improved in recent years, according to a new Pew Research Centre report. Using a “feeling thermometer” ranging from zero, the coldest rating, to 100, the warmest, Pew found that Americans gave China an average rating of 37, up from 28 in 2021. “The [Xi-Trump] meeting comes as Americans’ feelings about China have warmed in recent years, even though they remain cold...

Cristiano Ronaldo will continue playing for Portugal, stating citizens count on him. He will leave if the team no longer wants him.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Wednesday that Washington and Beijing have agreed to extend the trade agreement reached in South Korea for just two months, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a state visit. “We have agreed ⁠today that we will extend what ⁠we call the Busan Agreement,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox News, adding ‌the agreement ‌will be extended for two months until January 10. Bessent made the remarks hours after an unscheduled...