"Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the wellbeing of the whole world," Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the welcome banquet in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to China on May 14.

It has been nearly a decade since an occupant of the White House in Washington, D.C. last walked into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. But when Air Force One touched down on the evening of May 13, cutting through the thick haze of geopolitical mistrust, it was not merely a state visit; it was a recalibration.

While holding talks with Trump the next day, Xi said that he expects 2026 to be a "historic, landmark year" that opens up a new chapter in China-U.S. relations.

The two countries have more common interests than differences. Success in one is an opportunity for the other, and a stable bilateral relationship is good for the world, he said.

Noting that China and the United States should be partners instead of rivals, Xi said the two countries should help each other succeed and prosper together, and work toward finding the right way for major countries to get along well in the new era. According to the Chinese leader, both sides have agreed to work toward building a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry readout released on May 14, Xi described this vision as "positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, healthy stability with competition within proper limits, constant stability with manageable differences and lasting stability with expectable peace."

Analysts agreed that the visit was not designed to eliminate all structural differences between the two sides, but to set clear guardrails for competition, resume effective communication channels and guide the overall course of China-U.S. relations amid uncertainties.

Head-of-state diplomacy serves as the main steering wheel that adjusts the overall trajectory of China-U.S. relations amid complex and evolving bilateral dynamics. Since last year, Xi has had five telephone conversations with Trump, exchanged letters multiple times and held a face-to-face meeting in Busan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), on the sidelines of the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, engaging in strategic communication on China-U.S. relations and the international situation. 

Gao Fei, President of China Foreign Affairs University, said that the meeting arrived at a pivotal historical time, as bilateral ties have long been trapped in unstable fluctuations. The in-person dialogue helped both sides clarify strategic intentions, reverse the tendency of strategic misjudgment, and lay a foundation for normalized high-level communication.

After a period defined by tariff wars, tech curbs, military rivalry and geopolitical fragmentation, this visit was well-timed as both sides aim to stabilize ties without shifting core strategic stances, Einar Tangen, a U.S. commentator and senior fellow with Center for International Governance Innovation, told Beijing Review.

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng reaffirmed that China remains committed to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation. The meeting's most important function was to prevent strategic miscalculation and stop frictions from escalating into full decoupling, Sun Chenghao, a researcher at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, said.

The U.S. delegation accompanying Trump on his visit to China sends dual political and economic signals. Strong business representation underscores that despite strategic rivalry, major U.S. firms view China as central to global manufacturing, supply chains and consumer markets. Politically, it reflects Trump's transactional diplomacy, centered on deals, investment and economic leverage, Tangen said.

Meanwhile, consistent with China's long-standing diplomatic stance, core red lines involving national sovereignty, territorial integrity and fundamental development interests remain non-negotiable in all discussions.

Noting that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations, Xi told Trump that if handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have "clashes and even conflicts," putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy, Xi said, emphasizing that "Taiwan independence" and cross-Straits peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water.

The Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive core issue in China-U.S. relations, and a red line that cannot be crossed, Wang Dong, Executive Director of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding at Peking University, told Beijing Review. The two sides must form verifiable and supervisable guardrails—opposing separatist acts pursuing "Taiwan independence," stopping arms sales to the island province and ending "high-level official" exchange, he added.

Board of Trade 

Economic and trade cooperation, long regarded as the most solid ballast of China-U.S. relations, stood as the most pragmatic and outcome-oriented topic of the visit. Despite years of trade frictions, tariff adjustments and supply chain restructuring, the economic interdependence between the two largest global economies remains deeply entrenched.

According to the General Administration of Customs of China, China is the United States' third largest export market and third largest source of imports, while the U.S. is China's largest goods export market and third largest import source.

"The economic gravity between the two countries remains immense," Chen Wenling, a senior researcher at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, told newspaper China Daily. "Even as trade tensions and geopolitical risks cast a shadow, the fundamental drivers of China-U.S. complementarity have not disappeared."

Chen said that the U.S. leads in financial markets and retains major hi-tech advantages, while China's edge in market scale, supply chain depth and rapid innovation is equally real.

Sean Stein, President of the U.S.-China Business Council, said: "If you just say they're the two largest economies, you're missing the most important part. They're also the two most dynamic and most innovative economies. It is when you add the innovation and dynamism pieces that you truly recognize the need for the two countries to find ways to work together more effectively."

Data released by the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. in November showed that more than 80,000 U.S. companies had invested in China, while 7,000 Chinese firms were operating in the U.S.

Diao Daming, Vice Dean of the National Academy of Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, told China Central Television that both countries have strong practical needs to stabilize economic and trade ties. The U.S. focuses on expanding exports of agricultural products and energy goods, optimizing market access conditions and easing domestic industrial and employment pressures, while China prioritizes maintaining the stability of industrial and supply chains, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of domestic enterprises, and promoting fair and inclusive bilateral economic competition. He stressed that both sides need to "take a long-term and holistic view" to expand incremental cooperation while properly resolving stock differences.

U.S. business and academic circles have delivered positive evaluations of the economic and trade talks that took place during the visit. Harley Seyedin, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, told China Daily that the visit offered a critical opportunity to move beyond confrontation and toward practical cooperation, emphasizing that "cooperation between Washington and Beijing is not simply beneficial for U.S. and Chinese citizens; it is essential for global growth and international confidence."

The visit sends a strong stability signal to global markets, curbing widespread market anxiety over bilateral decoupling and confrontation, China-focused author and television producer Robert Lawrence Kuhn said.

Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute of China-America Studies, and independent think tank, said that stable China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is essential for global industrial chain security, cross-border investment confidence and global economic recovery. He emphasized that pragmatic negotiation rather than confrontational rhetoric lays a solid foundation for reviving bilateral economic and trade dialogue mechanisms.

Xi revealed at the meeting with Trump that the economic and trade teams of the two countries had produced "generally balanced and positive outcomes" in the latest round of bilateral trade talks on May 13 in the ROK. Since the first high-level economic and trade consultations between the two sides were held on May 10, 2025, seven rounds of talks have taken place.

"This is good news for the people of the two countries and the world," Xi said, calling on both sides to sustain the positive momentum they have worked hard to create.