Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday (September 21). He is expected to hold talks with Trump in Washington on September 24. The meeting is likely to discuss trade, artificial intelligence, rare earth supplies, Taiwan and the war involving Iran.
On September 18, he said the United States is “doing very well with China”, and he and Xi have a good relationship. The United States wants China to provide greater access to critical minerals, while Beijing is seeking relief from some technology-related restrictions, according to Reuters. Trade has been one of the most difficult areas in the relationship between the two countries. Trump has repeatedly used tariffs as a tool in negotiations with Beijing. Artificial intelligence is expected to be another major subject during the meeting. The United States and China are competing over advanced AI systems, computing power and the technology needed to build them. The two governments are also dealing with restrictions on advanced technology exports and access to high-end chips. Rare earths are another major issue. China has a dominant position in the processing of many rare earth minerals used in electronics, electric vehicles, defence equipment and other industries.
US allies in Asia are looking for any change in Trump’s approach to Taiwan ahead of the meeting, according to Reuters. Taiwan will also feature in the talks. The issue has been one of the most difficult areas in US-China relations, with Beijing claiming Taiwan as part of China and Washington maintaining longstanding ties with Taipei. The two presidents also have the war involving Iran to discuss. Washington wants Beijing to use its economic relationship with Tehran to help deal with the conflict, while China has maintained its own ties with Iran. The US-Iran war is also expected to feature in the talks between Washington and Beijing. The state dinner is expected to bring together senior political and business leaders. Technology executives including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are among those expected to attend.
