U.S. President Donald Trump held a welcome banquet for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday, proposing a toast to the long U.S.-China relationship and wishing for a future of harmony, peace and success for the people of both nations.
At the invitation of Trump, Xi is paying a state visit to the United States from Wednesday to Friday. It comes just months after Trump paid a state visit to China in May.
In his speech, Trump said, "President Xi, Madam Peng and members of the Chinese delegation, Melania and I are delighted to welcome you once again to the White House. You are truly outstanding, amazing people. The hospitality of the Chinese people was on full display during my visit to Beijing earlier this year, and tonight we hope to show you the same honor as you return to Washington for the first time in over a decade."
"I'd like to raise it last and propose a toast to President Xi, Madam Peng, and the long relationship between China and America that has bridged thousands of miles and spanned hundreds of years. And may all of our people know a future of harmony, peace and success," Trump said.
Also present at the event were many well-known figures, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
Trump proposes toast to enduring US-China ties at White House welcome banquet for Xi
Political figures from several countries have highlighted the global significance of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, hoping it will bring more stability to a turbulent world.
Xi arrived in the United States on Wednesday to begin a three-day state visit at the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump. It comes after Trump paid a state visit to China in May, which marked the first by a U.S. president in nearly nine years.
Former President of Slovenia Danilo Turk said this visit will bring both political and economic stability to the world.
"I was very pleased when I learned about the plan of President Xi to visit the United States precisely at this moment, because this visit at this very moment can have an important stabilizing effect for the world not only in the economic sense, but also in the political sense. China is an example of a responsible great power," he said.
Andrey Sidorov, an associate professor at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, noted the high frequency of interactions between Xi and Trump, saying the high-level engagement is crucial for addressing bilateral issues.
"The two leaders have met many times. Last October, they met in Busan, South Korea. In May of this year, President Trump paid a state visit to China. Now, President Xi is visiting Washington. The whole world is paying attention to their frequent meetings. In my opinion, this is of great importance. Frequent communication and collaboration between the two leaders will help identify and resolve issues in international relations and their bilateral ties," Sidorov said.
Former Prime Minister of France Laurent Fabius hoped that this visit would generate more consensus on bilateral and global issues between the two major countries.
"I hope that China and the United States could reach as much consensus as possible. China and the United States are major countries of great importance to the world. There are too many problems that need to be solved in this world. Therefore, the two countries need to work together. As a French proverb goes, as well as similar sayings in other countries, 'it takes two to tango,'" Fabius said.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, de facto leader of the French political party La France Insoumise, expected the Xi-Trump summit to help restore order to international trade and global relations.
"We hope this meeting will benefit all of humanity. The world today is facing great turbulence and disorder. We must change this situation. China's stance is very rational and very well-organized. There has already been too much chaos in international trade and international relations. That is why this meeting is so important," he said.
Fernand Kartheiser, a member of the European Parliament for Luxembourg, also hoped that this visit would help ease tensions in international relations.
"In the time that we are living today are very difficult. The world is not very stable, and there are a lot of tensions. So, I really welcome the visit by President Xi Jinping to the United States, because it gives us hope for better international relations," Kartheiser said.
Int'l figures, obervers expect Xi's US visit to add more stability to turbulent world
