BEIJING – It’s unclear if U.S. President Donald Trump’s elaborate reception of his Chinese counterpart in Washington dazzled President Xi Jinping, but for the Chinese public, it made quite an impression.
Trump’s rare welcome of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the airport, as well as the bilateral and cultural events the leaders attended were closely covered — and praised — by Chinese state media. Those who watched at home saw a China elevated in status.
“I read the news that the U.S. reception standards for President Xi are very high,” Xiang Ziyu, a postgraduate student in Beijing, told The Associated Press. “I’m quite impressed because it shows that our country has become really powerful.”
This sentiment was echoed by several individuals interviewed by the AP, as well as in comments on Chinese social media, where users praised China’s cooperation with the United States.
The official People’s Daily newspaper allocated the entire front page to the trip, featuring six photos of the Xi-Trump meetings, underscoring the importance China places on this diplomatic engagement.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese search engine Baidu, the three most popular search topics were the talks between Trump and Xi, the state dinner attended by Xi and Peng, and Xi’s greetings to the Chinese people on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival being celebrated on the same day.
Shen Zuohang, a Beijing resident, felt reassured by the coverage and by Trump and Xi’s seeming agreeability on topics like trade, artificial intelligence, and security. “We have no trade war and no military conflict. Even on the issue of Taiwan, we are moving in a good direction instead of having heated confrontation,” Shen noted, emphasizing a more diplomatic approach.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Xi called on Trump to oppose the independence of Taiwan, an island democracy that China claims as its own territory, urging the U.S. to handle the issue with caution. Trump did not provide immediate comments on Taiwan but had previously suggested that U.S. arms sales to the island were open to negotiations with China.
Xiang, the student, indicated that the summit sent a positive signal, which could help improve the Chinese public’s perception of relations between the two countries. “It is better than not communicating,” he stated, highlighting the importance of dialogue in international relations.
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Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang in Beijing and writer Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
