US President Donald Trump lauded his summit and praised his relationship with China’s President Xi Jinping, describing the visit as “incredible” and saying the two leaders had made “fantastic trade deals”. US officials claimed progress on trade, agriculture, energy and market access.
However, few concrete details were published. Reuters reported that Trump left Beijing with no major trade breakthrough, and there was no mention on the current US tariff-regime on Chinese products.
The pair held private at the Zhongnanhai House, a site used by the leadership of the Communist Party of China where Xi Jinping gave a tour of the US President of the imperial gardens which include centuries-old trees. During the press conference, Xi Jinping referred to a 419-years old tree, to strongly emphasise and get across the point that the trees in the imperial garden are older than the foundation of the US.
President Trump lauded his relationship with Xi Jinping but quickly diverted to Iran and said that Iran can not have a nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz need to be opened.
When asked about Taiwan, flying back on Air Force One, the US President was evasive and said he would never say in public whether he would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion. The US President also confirmed that Xi Jinping asked him the same question.
The latest statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be found here. It states that Xi Jinping and President Trump reached an important consensus on the trade and economic relationship between China and the US. Unlike the previous statement, it did not mention Taiwan, but it stated the security and global issues were also discussed.
No new statement has been issued by the White House.
UPDATED: Speaking to Fox News before leaving Beijing, President Trump said that he raised the issue of Jimmy Lai and Pastor Brunson with Xi Jinping however he did not have a positive response about Jimmy Lai, but was promised that the case of Pastor Brunson would be under review.
Newsroom
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