U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Thursday, beginning a three-day state visit to China. International attention is focused on the outcome of the U.S.-China summit amid rising tensions over major issues including the tariff dispute, the Taiwan question, and the Middle East situation.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, Trump's presidential aircraft Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport at around 7:49 p.m. that day. Senior Chinese officials were on hand at the airport to greet the U.S. president.
According to CNN, Trump was welcomed by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Ma Zhaoxu, Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China. From the U.S. side, Ambassador to China David Perdue and Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng were at the airport.
It is the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nine years, since November 2017 during Trump's first term in office.
Trump will hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the morning of November 14. The face-to-face meeting between the two leaders comes about six months after they met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan last October.
Major foreign media outlets cite tariffs and trade, the Iran war, export controls on advanced technologies such as semiconductors and AI, Taiwan, and supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals as key agenda items for this summit. However, with significant gaps between the two sides on each key issue, some forecast that the talks may end with only limited agreements.
After the summit, Trump plans to tour Beijing's Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) Park with Xi before attending a state dinner at the Great Hall of the People. On November 15, the final day of the visit, the two leaders will hold a small-group tea session and luncheon meeting for additional discussions. Trump will then wrap up his three-day China trip and head home.
