Xi-Trump meeting brings high hopes

Cordial visit holds promise of improved understanding and relationship

Senior officials and experts have described the first meeting between President Xi Jinping and his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, as "productive".

During his two-day trip to Florida on April 6 and 7, Xi held two talks with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort.

They compared notes on bilateral ties and major international and regional issues of mutual concern, while reaching important agreements.

In briefing on Xi's trip on April 8, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the two sides agreed the meeting "had a positive tone and was greatly productive".

The two leaders announced that the countries had established four high-level dialogue mechanisms, focusing on diplomacy and security, economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity, society and culture.

Ahead of their second talk on April 7, senior Chinese and US officials began comprehensive economic discussions, also covering diplomatic and security issues.

Xi and Trump both voiced satisfaction over the visit and the initial outcomes, according to an official release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Wang Yi said: "A regular China-US dialogue mechanism is a significant pillar for the healthy development of bilateral relations.

"It is conducive to smoother communication, strengthened mutual trust and expanded cooperation between the two sides."

The White House said in a statement on April 7 that the two leaders "agreed to work in concert to expand areas of cooperation while managing differences based on mutual respect".

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at a press briefing following the meetings: "The posture between the two (leaders) really set the tone for our subsequent meetings between our high-level delegations."

Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies, says the leaders' talks were "primarily making top-level designs over major agenda items of strategic significance".

China-US ties are of great significance to both sides and the world, and "they should strengthen strategic mutual trust and avoid strategic misjudgment", Su says.

Su mentions a number of lighter moments during Xi's stay in Florida. Xi and Trump took a walk and Arabella and Joseph, the US president's grandchildren, joined a gathering and sang the Chinese folk song Jasmine, as well as reciting verses from the Three-Character Classic and Chinese poetry.

"Meeting at a resort led to frank discussions between the leaders and the relaxing atmosphere helped build personal trust between them," Su says.

On military relations, Xi suggested at discussions on April 7 that the two sides implement and improve the mutual reporting mechanism on major military operations and the code of safe conduct on naval and air military encounters.

Xi also called for reinforced cooperation to combat transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, child trafficking, money laundering, cybercrime and organized crime.

On top-level exchanges, Wang Yi confirmed that Trump had accepted an invitation to pay a state visit to China later this year.

The White House said the leaders had "agreed to work together in the interim to ensure a successful and results-focused visit".

Su Xiaohui, a researcher on international strategy at the China Institute of International Studies, says that, as Trump had accepted the invitation to visit China, exchanges between Beijing and Washington "will enter a relatively stable status".

Su observes that the two leaders communicated with each other in a very frank but constructive manner on sensitive issues, indicating that the possibility of China and the US losing control of their relations had "significantly decreased".

On the economic front, China and the US agreed to facilitate the healthy development of two-way trade and investment and to advance negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty.

They also agreed to promote pragmatic cooperation on infrastructure and other areas.

Bilateral commodity trade totaled $519.6 billion last year, and China has become the fastest-growing export market outside North America for the US.

Wang Yi says the need for economic cooperation between the two countries far outweighed competition - and their economic complementarity outweighed their differences.

Premier Li Keqiang told visiting US lawmakers in Beijing on April 10 that China is ready to work with the US to "tangibly press ahead" with BIT negotiations and tackle divergence and friction through dialogue and consultation.

Li says that each country is the other's largest trade partner.

Su Ge, president of CIIS, says that if the BIT negotiations make breakthroughs, "a greater need of Chinese investment in the US will be unleashed".

"Quite a number of Chinese companies hope to take it as a chance to tap into the US market and globalize their operations," Su says.

Economic and trade ties have been a cornerstone of China-US relations, and trade sanctions or a trade war would bring no benefits to either side, Su adds.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 04/14/2017 page14)