Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday for his first state visit to the White House in more than ten years, where he is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in an effort to ease escalating tensions between the world’s two leading powers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will remain in United States until September 25, landed at 5:40 P.M. local time aboard an Air China state aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the U.S. capital.
In an unusual diplomatic gesture, Trump personally traveled to the air base to greet his counterpart directly on the tarmac, underscoring the significance the White House is placing on the encounter.
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The choice to receive Xi in person, rather than through a lower-level delegation, is being read by observers as a signal that both governments are seeking to project a tone of engagement rather than confrontation, at least for the duration of the visit.
This is Xi’s first visit to the White House in more than a decade, since he visited it in 2015 at the invitation of then-President Barack Obama.
President Trump personally greeted Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews as the Chinese president arrived for a three-day U.S. state visit.
It marks Xi’s first U.S. state visit in more than a decade.
pic.twitter.com/Ki22TNXQAW— Shay Boloor (@StockSavvyShay) September 23, 2026
The meeting with Trump is the third between the two since the return of the Republican to office. The previous ones took place last October in Busan, South Korea, and in May of this year in Beijing.
High-Level Meeting Expected
The highlight of the visit will be this Thursday, when Trump and Xi hold a bilateral meeting at the White House, in which both Presidents are expected to address the main points of tension between Washington and Beijing, including the tariff truce, Iran’s war, Taiwan’s future, and competition for artificial intelligence.
The meeting between Xi and Trump comes at a moment of significant strain between Beijing and Washington, with both sides having faced growing friction across trade, technology and security issues in recent years. While the full agenda for the talks has not been detailed publicly, the visit is widely expected to touch on the broader trajectory of U.S.-China relations, an area that has drawn sustained attention amid concerns over the stability of the global economic order and the security balance in the Asia-Pacific region.
The optics of the arrival ceremony, including the presence of U.S. military personnel organizing formal protocol procedures to receive the Chinese leader, point to an effort by the Trump administration to frame the visit as a substantive diplomatic occasion rather than a routine bilateral meeting.
Further details on the specific outcomes of the talks, including any joint statements or agreements, are expected to emerge as the visit progresses over the coming days.
President Xi will end his trip on Friday, when he and Trump visit the U.S. National Archives, which houses the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, in a year that marks the 250th anniversary of China’s independence.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.