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Trump arrived in Beijing last night, commencing a 2-night, 3-day state visit.
Summit after welcome ceremony at Great Hall of the People... Visit to Temple of Heaven, state dinner.
Also seen as a gauge for the transition from a US-centric 'unipolar' international order to a bipolar system.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a summit in Beijing, China, on the morning of the 14th (local time).
President Trump arrived in Beijing the previous night, commencing a two-night, three-day state visit.
The leaders of both countries are scheduled to hold an official welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing around 10 AM today, followed immediately by a summit.
After the summit, they will jointly visit the Temple of Heaven (天壇, the altar where emperors offered sacrifices to heaven) in Beijing, and a state dinner will be held in the evening.
This direct meeting between President Trump and President Xi is the first in approximately six months since they met in Busan on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last October.
Their meeting in Beijing is the first in nine years since 2017, during President Trump's first term in office.
During the summit, which draws global attention, key bilateral issues and international matters such as tariffs and trade disputes, the situation in Iran, the Taiwan issue, and control over advanced technology are expected to be broadly discussed.
The two countries, which had been in conflict over reciprocal high tariffs and export controls, are now in a 'truce' state. With increasing global economic uncertainty, they also agree on the need for stable relations, so it remains to be seen whether they can find some common ground.
For President Trump, visible achievements such as exports of soybeans, beef, and Boeing aircraft are needed ahead of the November midterm elections, and President Xi is also expected to focus on creating a favorable negotiating environment in the strategic competition with the United States.
The Middle East issue is highly likely to be one of the key agendas for this summit.
Amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran, Iran's nuclear issue and the tense situation in the Strait of Hormuz are expected to be discussed intensively.
President Trump is expected to ask President Xi for an active mediating role regarding the Iran issue, and China is also emphasizing its role as a mediator in Middle East issues, so attention is focused on what message the two sides will convey.
On the other hand, the Taiwan issue is one of the areas where the differences in positions between the two countries are most sharply evident.
The United States is expanding arms sales and security cooperation with Taiwan, while China strongly opposes this, defining it as a 'violation of core interests'.
Prior to his visit to China, President Trump mentioned that he would address the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan in his meeting with President Xi, but China reaffirmed its opposition to this.
Along with this, global issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) safety, advanced technology norms, and climate change response are also of interest as to whether they will be on the discussion table.
President Trump also plans to raise the issue of the imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, an anti-China journalist in Hong Kong, but China is objecting, calling it an internal affair.
On the last day of President Trump's visit to China, the 15th, the two leaders are scheduled to hold further discussions through small-group tea talks and a luncheon meeting.
Afterward, President Trump will conclude his two-night, three-day visit to China and depart for home.
Among Chinese experts, there is also an assessment that this summit could be a watershed moment to gauge the possibility of a transition from the existing US-centric 'unipolar' international order to a US-China bipolar system.
If President Trump moves to expand strategic cooperation with China, China's influence in the Asian region will grow further, and the diplomatic calculations of regional countries such as South Korea could become even more complex.
Zheng Yongnian, Dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus, said in a recent interview that '(US-China relations) have reached a very important point' and that 'there is also a view within the US that compares President Trump's visit to China with former US President Richard Nixon's visit, which brought about a US-China détente'.
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