Beijing: In a pointed opening to summit talks, Chinese President Xi Jinping cautioned US President Donald Trump that any errors over Taiwan risked plunging their nations into “conflict,” underscoring the island’s centrality as the leaders convened in Beijing.
Trump landed in China showering praise on his counterpart, hailing Xi as a “great leader” and “friend” while issuing an invite for a White House visit in September.
Xi’s welcome blended ceremony with candour, advocating partnership over rivalry and zeroing in on Taiwan—its claimed territory—from the start, as reported by Al Jazeera.
“The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said on Thursday, according to remarks published by Chinese state media shortly after the start of the talks, which lasted two hours and 15 minutes.
“If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation,” Xi added.
Trump’s trip gains urgency with his approval ratings battered by the unrelenting Iran war, positioning this rare presidential visit—first in almost 10 years—as a quest for economic lifts.
“There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever,” Trump told Xi in brief opening remarks after a ceremony that featured a guard of honour and large number of children waving flowers and flags at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
Xi highlighted “balanced and positive outcomes” from US-China economic and trade team negotiations in South Korea on Wednesday, according to a summary from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Reporting from Beijing, Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu said China was taking a measured stance, conveying that the “overall message from Beijing to the US is that China is willing to be flexible and accept a level of disagreement on various issues – Iran, trade or technology”.
“But there is one issue China and President Xi cannot be flexible on. That is Taiwan,” she said.
“And everything that Beijing has offered in the last few hours – niceties, friendliness, reaching out a hand to cooperate more closely – is not free and is conditional on one thing: Washington accepts that there is only one China and that Beijing is very serious about getting Taiwan under its control.”
