Chinese President Xi Jinping received his American counterpart, Donald Trump, with great pomp. "We should be partners, not rivals"

The Chinese President, Xi Jinping, welcomed his American counterpart, Donald Trump, with great pomp on Thursday in Beijing, marking the first visit of an American president to China since 2017.

The two leaders had a formal meeting at the Great Hall of the People, a symbol of Chinese power, where they listened to the national anthems and reviewed a military honor guard, accompanied by cannon salutes. The atmosphere was festive, with children carrying flowers and waving the flags of both countries, chanting a welcome message.

At the opening of the bilateral meeting, Xi Jinping advocated for cooperation and dialogue in a tense geopolitical context. At the same time, he warned that the world is at "a new crossroads" and invoked the risk of the "Thucydides Trap," a concept that describes the tendency for conflict between an emerging power and a dominant one:

"We should be partners, not rivals, to achieve success for each other, to prosper together and to build a correct direction for how the great powers of the new era can coexist and cooperate."

For his part, Donald Trump spoke positively about the relationship with the Chinese leader and emphasized the importance of economic cooperation between the two states. Trump stated that, despite difficult moments, the relationship between the two remained strong and asserted that issues that arose over time were quickly resolved through direct communication.

"We had a fantastic relationship, we understood each other when there were difficulties, we resolved it [...] I would call you, and you would call me, and whenever we had a problem, people didn’t know when we had a problem, we resolved it very quickly," he said.

The American leader also said he looks optimistically at the development of trade relations with China and noted that he was accompanied at the summit by some of the most important business people. Trump stated that they are interested in developing partnerships and economic exchanges with Beijing, emphasizing that the openness will be mutual:

"I just wanted the top, and they are here today to pay their respects to you and China and are looking forward to doing trade and business, and this will be totally reciprocal on our part."

The discussions between Xi and Trump addressed numerous points of disagreement with global impact, including trade with Iran and the situation in Taiwan, highlighting the complexity of bilateral relations.

This meeting underscores the importance of dialogue between the two superpowers in a tense international context.