President Trump wrapped up his whirlwind three-day trip to China after tea and lunch with Xi Jinping early Friday, Eastern time. The commander-in-chief and his Chinese counterpart discussed a wide range of pressing issues over the course of the historic summit, aimed at shoring up relations between Washington and Beijing and opening up the Communist country to American businesses. Here are the top takeaways from Trump’s trip:
Xi raised the issue of Taiwan with Trump right out of the gate, but the president has thus far refused to budge on changing the longstanding US policy toward the self-governing, democratic island that China claims as its own. “President Xi stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning wrote on X Wednesday. “If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy. “‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water.” Mao’s statement concluded with a quote from the meeting attributed to Xi: “Safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the US.”
