Xi holds welcome ceremony for US President Trump

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a welcome ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday morning.

At the invitation of Xi, Trump is on a state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday, with this being the first U.S. presidential visit to China in almost nine years, after President Xi previously hosted Trump in Beijing in November 2017.

After Trump's motorcade arrived outside the Great Hall of the People, the two leaders shook hands and posed for photos, before respectively meeting officials from each side.

A 21-gun salute was fired at Tian'anmen Square and a military band played the national anthems of the U.S. and China during the ceremony.

Accompanied by Xi, Trump reviewed the guard of honor of the People's Liberation Army and watched a march-past and performances from the military band. Among the Chinese officials attending the welcome ceremony were Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of General Office of CPC Central Committee; Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs; and He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council.

Trump's entourage included U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

After the welcome ceremony, the two heads of state and their delegations headed inside the Great Hall of the People for talks.

Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.52 percent to 4,177.92 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 2.14 percent lower at 15,745.74 points.

The combined turnover of these two indices totaled 3.36 trillion yuan (about 473.5 billion U.S. dollars), marking the seventh consecutive trading day with turnover exceeding 3 trillion yuan.

The industrial gases, pork and Chinese alcoholic drink baijiu led the gains, while those related to commercial aerospace and power grid sectors led the losses.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 2.16 percent to close at 3,951.14 points Thursday.

The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 2.36 percent lower at 2,099.56 points on Thursday.