China’s President Xi Jinping told US President Donald Trump on Thursday that if the Taiwan issue is not handled well, the two countries will clash or even come into conflict, pushing China-US relations into “a very dangerous place,” Xinhua reported.
Trump called Xi a great leader and a friend as they kicked off two days of talks set to cover their fragile trade truce and the Iran war, which has loomed over the visit amid faltering peace talks.
Xi additionally referred to Taiwan as the most important issue in China-US relations, according to Xinhua.
The US has repeatedly reaffirmed its firm support for Taiwan, Taiwanese cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee said on Thursday when asked about the Beijing summit, adding that Taiwan’s government is very grateful for the support.
An unnamed Taiwan government spokesperson added that China’s military threat is the sole source of insecurity in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory – a claim that Taipei rejects – and opposes US arms sales to the island.
The Beijing meeting is the first visit to China by a US president since Trump’s last trip there in 2017 during his previous term.
China renewed export licenses for hundreds of US beef processing plants on Thursday, customs data showed, in a possible goodwill gesture.
More than 400 US beef plants lost export eligibility over the past year as Beijing’s permissions, granted between March 2020 and April 2021, lapsed without the customary renewal, accounting for roughly 65% of the facilities that were once registered.
“This shows China has released some goodwill gestures in areas that aren’t too critical to US-China trade relations,” said Xu Hongzhi, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants.
The step is likely to cheer US beef producers, who were told by the White House in recent weeks that the issue would be raised during the summit.
Cargill CEO Brian Sikes is among the US CEOs accompanying Trump. Plants owned by Cargill and Tyson Foods were included in the renewal.
A casualty of the trade war between Beijing and Washington, US beef exports to China have fallen steadily to about $500 million last year, down from their 2022 peak of $1.7 billion.
Reuters could not immediately determine when the registrations were renewed.
