China News Service, Washington, September 24. Title: These two photos on the wall of the White House bear witness to another encounter between China and the United States.
China News Service reporters Huang Yuqin Guo Jinchao
On the wall of the first floor of the White House, two photos stand out.
One is a photo taken during the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Trump in Busan, South Korea last year. The other is a classic picture of the heads of state of China and the United States shaking hands in front of the Great Hall of the People when Trump visited China in May this year.
The photos on the wall record the past and bear witness to the present.
On the morning of September 24, local time, when Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrived at the White House, Trump and his wife Melania were already waiting on the south porch of the main building. When the two heads of state met again in Washington, they both wore red ties, which coincided with their attire when they met in Beijing in May.
This scene was quickly captured by the cameras of reporters at the scene. From Busan to Beijing and then to Washington, in less than a year, the heads of state of China and the United States met face-to-face three times, which also raised people's expectations for new photos on the wall of the White House.
The indoor welcome ceremony was held in the atrium of the main building of the White House, and the military band played the national anthems of China and the United States. In his speech, Xi Jinping said: "I am visiting the United States at the invitation of President Trump this time to inherit friendship, expand cooperation, and enhance the well-being of the two peoples."
In his speech, Trump specifically mentioned a Chinese word: "Gung Ho". This word, which is still used by the U.S. Marine Corps, comes from the industrial cooperation movement jointly launched by international friends such as Edgar Snow and Chinese people. It is now used to express "great enthusiasm." A Chinese word traveled through history, recorded the friendly exchanges between the two countries, and became a small footnote in the latest interaction between the two heads of state.
After the indoor welcome ceremony, the two heads of state and their spouses came to the Rose Garden of the White House to review the guard of honor. The military band played the opening horn, the honor guards of various U.S. military services performed traditional formations and instrumental performances, and fighter jets flew over the White House to pay tribute to the heads of state of China and the United States and their spouses.
"The exchange of visits between the heads of state of China and the United States in less than half a year is unprecedented in the history of Sino-US relations." In the subsequent talks, Xi Jinping got straight to the point, allowing the outside world to more intuitively perceive the historic nature of this visit.
In May this year, the two heads of state unanimously decided to build a constructive strategic and stable relationship between China and the United States. This new positioning reflects the reality of Sino-US relations and expectations for the future. It is an important step towards a correct way for the two countries to get along.
Now, both parties are working hard to translate this vision into concrete actions. From economy and trade to artificial intelligence, from bilateral relations to international and regional issues, the talks between the two sides were extensive and specific. Xi Jinping talked about the just-concluded new round of Sino-US economic and trade consultations, pointing out that cooperation is a two-way street, and the stability of Sino-US economic and trade relations requires both extending the list of cooperation and shortening the list of issues.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, he said that while the two sides compete, they can also cooperate. Each should showcase its strengths rather than guarding against each other. When it comes to the Taiwan issue, Xi Jinping expressed the hope that the United States will adhere to the correct stance of opposing "Taiwan independence" and deal with the Taiwan issue prudently, so as to lay a solid foundation for China-US strategic cooperation and the development of bilateral relations.
Both countries benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation. This is the historical experience of China and the United States in getting along. As Xi Jinping said, China and the United States should and can achieve mutual benefit and win-win results in pragmatic cooperation, achieve mutual success in healthy competition, properly handle differences while seeking common ground while reserving differences, and build peace through accumulated mutual trust, so that the constructive strategic and stable relationship between China and the United States can better benefit the people of the two countries and people around the world.
This historic meeting also continues to attract global attention. Reuters noted in the report that trade, artificial intelligence, etc. were the focus of the meeting, and observed the meeting in the context of "seeking stable relations."
From the new positioning of bilateral relations to specific cooperation items, from meetings between heads of state to practical actions in youth, economy, trade, artificial intelligence and other fields, stabilizing a complex relationship requires the accumulation of things one by one, and more importantly, we need to meet each other halfway.
After the meeting, Trump waved Xi Jinping off from the White House and called it a "great meeting."
Looking back at the wall on the first floor of the White House, the photos retain the past. People on both sides of the Pacific are looking forward to new stories and 2026 to become a historic and iconic year for Sino-US relations to carry forward the past and open up the future.
It is worth mentioning that when the Chinese and US presidents concluded their talks at the White House, Beijing time had entered the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It's the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a good time.
