Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington: Grand ceremony but limited substantive progress

Author, Anthony Zurcher

Role, BBC North America Correspondent

Posted: 2 minutes ago

Reading time: 3 minutes

At least so far, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington has been full of pomp and circumstance, but has produced little tangible progress on pressing issues.

From the grand welcome ceremony held at a military base on Wednesday (September 23) to being greeted by a guard of honor when he arrived at the White House this morning (EST), US President Trump has rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese leader, both literally and figuratively.

The two leaders' public statements were full of friendly words and diplomatic rhetoric. Xi Jinping issued a statement ahead of today's official talks, announcing that he would send Chinese giant pandas to the United States and launch a new student exchange program.

He said: "Let us uphold the feelings of the people, show historical initiative, continue to promote the cause of friendship between the people of China and the United States, and join hands to build a better world."

Trump listed some of the topics the two planned to discuss during the meeting, including "urgent issues involving security, technology and superintelligence." What he calls "superintelligence" is the term he usually uses to talk about artificial intelligence.

"The decisions we make today in these areas can advance peace and prosperity for decades to come," Trump said.

But Thursday's military band performance and military flyover may have a larger purpose, at least for Trump.

Jennifer Welch, chief geoeconomics analyst at Bloomberg Economics, told the BBC: "These are somewhat deliberately staged grand occasions to create a positive atmosphere for the summit."

"This is consistent with the way President Trump views this summit and his own role in the U.S.-China relationship, which is to serve as a ballast to provide stability."

However, she pointed out that some of Xi Jinping's remarks still have a certain warning tone.

Xi Jinping once again mentioned the "Thucydides Trap" when speaking at the White House. This theory holds that when the global power structure changes, conflicts tend to break out between rising countries and relatively declining countries.

Xi Jinping said: "China and the United States have different national conditions. Frank, in-depth and sustained dialogue can enhance understanding, seek common ground while reserving differences, and accumulate mutual trust."

However, China and the United States still face significant obstacles to reaching any substantive agreement.

When Trump and Xi Jinping met in Beijing in May this year, the two agreed to establish a trade and investment committee to oversee economic exchanges between the two countries, but other than that the results were limited.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that the one-year trade "truce" between China and the United States will be extended for another two months. This arrangement has kept tariffs on both sides at a low level.

Financial analysts expect the arrangement could be further extended before this week's summit ends as neither side wants a repeat of last year's trade war.

On other issues, including the U.S. war with Iran, the war in Ukraine and regulation of artificial intelligence, prospects for progress are much bleaker.

China has failed to fulfill its commitments to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural products and sell more rare earth minerals to the United States, making the outlook even more uncertain.

Meanwhile, China is waiting to see whether Trump will implement a proposed arms sale to Taiwan. The plan to sell U.S. arms to Taiwan has been on hold for months.

Robyn Klingler-Vidra, professor of political economics at King's College London, told the BBC that on the issue of artificial intelligence, China and the United States have very different goals for any agreement related to this technological race.

"The U.S. is concerned about existential risks and whether it might have to slow down the development of artificial intelligence," she said.

"In China, the focus is on accelerating development, perhaps winning the artificial intelligence technology competition, and applying artificial intelligence to the real economy."

A number of senior executives from major U.S. artificial intelligence companies plan to attend an official state dinner at the White House tonight. Many people believe that the United States hopes to use this to demonstrate its current advantages in the field of science and technology.

Beyond a show of strength, more diplomatic pomp and a pledge to maintain stability may ultimately be the main takeaway from Xi's visit, which will give the two leaders more face-to-face time even before he leaves on Friday afternoon.