China's President Xi Jinping hailed on Thursday a "new positioning" of ties with the United States that envisages cooperation with measured competition, following his summit with President Donald Trump.
Xi said both leaders agreed that building a constructive, strategically stable relationship would guide ties in the next three years and beyond, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
Xi described such ties as based primarily on cooperation but with measured competition for "a normal stability in which differences are controllable, and a lasting stability in which peace can be expected", the ministry added.
He called for both countries to widen exchanges and cooperation in trade, health, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, and law enforcement, it said.
Even as Xi talked up cooperation, he stressed "utmost caution" by the United States in handling the issue of Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China, although Taipei rejects the contention.
"If handled poorly, the two countries could collide or even enter into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into an extremely dangerous situation," the Chinese leader said.
China, US should be 'partners, not rivals’: Xi tells Trump in Beijing
Meanwhile, Xi also told Trump on Thursday that Washington and Beijing should be "partners, not rivals" as the two leaders met in the Chinese capital.
China and the US "both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation," Xi said in opening remarks at the Great Hall of the People, China's ceremonial state building, adding that the meeting had drawn global attention.
"We should help each other succeed, prosper together, and find the right way for major countries to get along in the new era," he said.
Xi said the world was undergoing transformations “not seen in a century” and described the international situation as fluid and turbulent, adding that it had reached “a new crossroads.”
He said China and the US faced questions “vital to history, to the world, and to the people,” including whether they could “create a new paradigm of major country relations,” jointly address global challenges, and “provide more stability for the world.”
“They are the questions of our times that you and I need to answer as leaders of major countries,” Xi said.
Saying he "always believed" Beijing and Washington had "more common interests than differences," Xi added that one country’s success represented "an opportunity for the other," and that stable bilateral ties were beneficial for the world.
Xi noted that he looked forward to further discussions on issues important to both countries and the wider international community, and to working with Trump "to set the course for and steer the giant ship of China-US relations," with the aim of making 2026 "a historic landmark year" that opens "a new chapter" in bilateral ties.
Xi also emphasised that economic ties between the two nations are "mutually beneficial and win-win in nature," according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.
"Yesterday, our economic and trade teams produced generally balanced and positive outcomes. This is good news for the people of the two countries and the world," Xi said.
On Wednesday, top Chinese and US trade negotiators met in South Korea to hold what Beijing described as "candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges."
"Facts have shown time and again that trade wars have no winner," Xi said, emphasising "equal-footed consultation" as the "only right choice," while urging the two sides to "jointly sustain the good momentum that they have worked hard to create."
Xi also emphasised China's commitment to "the stable, healthy, and sustainable development" of China-US relations, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The two sides agreed to build a bilateral relationship of constructive strategic stability to provide strategic guidance for ties over the next three years and beyond, which Xi said would be welcomed by "the people of both countries, as well as the international community."
The constructive strategic stability "should be a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences, and an enduring stability with promises of peace," Xi said, stressing that it should not be "a mere slogan" but concrete actions by both sides towards the shared goal.
Regional conflicts, international issues
Besides trade and tariffs, the Middle East conflict and Taiwan were among the issues high on the agenda during the talks between the two leaders.
The two heads of state also discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the situation of the Korean Peninsula.
Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with executives from major US companies, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, BlackRock's Larry Fink, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman, Boeing's Kelly Ortberg, Cargill's Brian Sikes, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, GE Aerospace's Larry Culp, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra, and Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon.
Trump’s son Eric Trump, and Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, also accompanied the president and disembarked from the plane shortly after him.
First Lady Melania Trump did not accompany the president, unlike during Trump’s 2017 visit, when the couple was hosted by Xi and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan.
