Beijing —
President Donald Trump departed Beijing Friday afternoon local time without any immediate sign that the US and China have resolved thorny challenges dogging their fractious relationship, but with a freshly stabilized relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping – for now.
The leaders covered a range of issues from Iran and Taiwan to trade, during two days that included intensive bilateral meetings. But there were also grand displays of soft diplomacy, marking the first Beijing meeting for the longtime rivals in nearly a decade.
Since Trump’s last visit in 2017, he has reimagined Washington’s role in the world, while Xi has tightened his grip on authority domestically and spurred China’s high-tech transformation.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle, and the relationship is a very strong one,” Trump said at the start of bilateral discussions Friday, offering no concrete details on the problems in question.
