Trump: 'STRONGER' US-China ties lie ahead

US President Donald Trump, who concluded a "state visit-plus" in China on Friday, tweeted on Thursday: "In the coming months and years ahead I look forward to building an even STRONGER relationship between the United States and China."

It was one of a slew of messages Trump has broadcast since he arrived in the country on Wednesday, when he changed the banner photo of his Twitter account to a photo with a group of Peking Opera performers dressed in ornate traditional costumes.

The Trumps arrived in the Chinese capital of Beijing on Wednesday afternoon. They had tea with President Xi Jinping and first lady Peng Liyuan at the Hall of Embodied Treasures in the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum, followed by a tour of the ancient imperial palace that included a performance by Peking Opera students.

The following day, Trump changed the banner photo on his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account to show a picture of him, his wife, Melania, President Xi and his wife, Madame Peng, standing in front of Chinese and US flags.

On his @POTUS account, Trump retweeted a post by Dan Scavino, White House director of social media and assistant to the president, about China Daily's front-page coverage of his visit, showing a group photo of the Trumps with President Xi and his wife Peng in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City.

China Daily, the national English-language newspaper of China, has launched multimedia coverage of the summit, including video online and print editions in China and overseas.

Trump is scheduled to leave for Vietnam on Friday. He will fly to Da Nang for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.

Before departing from Beijing, Trump sent a message on his Twitter account, summarizing his Beijing trip: "My meetings with President Xi Jinping were very productive on both trade and the subject of North Korea. He is a highly respected and powerful representative of his people. It was great being with him and Madame Peng Liyuan!"

In another tweet on Thursday, Trump picked up the topic of the trade deficit again, blaming what he said was "the incompetence of past Admins for allowing China to take advantage of the US on trade" incurring billions in deficits.

Before Trump's visit to China, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said that in the long run, a trade imbalance will not help but hurt the Chinese economy.

He said the main reason for the trade imbalance was the different positions of China and the US in the global value chain and the international division of labor.

zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 11/10/2017 page2)