Trump welcomes Xi Jinping at White House state dinner, tech and finance giants gathered Anthropic was absent

U.S. President Trump hosted a state dinner in the East Room of the White House to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping on the evening of Thursday (September 24) Eastern Time.

Many American technology and financial giants attended, and some even sat at the same table as the leaders of the two countries. However, representatives from Anthropic, a company that has recently high-profilely warned about the risks of artificial intelligence, did not appear.

Some analysts believe that there has been no major breakthrough in the visit so far, and the outside world continues to pay attention to the positions of China and the United States on issues such as the development of artificial intelligence and Taiwan.

The two heads of state will have afternoon tea together at the White House on Friday and visit the National Archives, before Xi Jinping leaves the United States.

Different emphases in speeches before the state banquet

The two heads of state delivered speeches before the start of the state banquet. Trump praised the long history of U.S.-China relations, thanked Xi Jinping for his special trip from China to the United States, and said: "The relationship between us has never been better than it is now."

At one point, he mentioned that a banquet hall was being built and it was expected to be completed in a year. He also said that as a "special treat", Xi Jinping and his wife could be the first people to enter the new banquet hall of the White House.

Trump presented Xi Jinping with a bald eagle sculpture, which he and First Lady Melania both participated in the design.

The bald eagle is native to North America and is designated as the official national bird of the United States. Trump said that the sculpture embodies "the free-flying spirit of America" ​​and "we hope it can find a beautiful and appropriate place in Beijing. This is your honor."

In his speech, Xi Jinping thanked Trump and Melania for their "warm reception and thoughtful arrangements" for making him and his wife "feel at home."

Compared with Trump's speech, Xi Jinping's speech obviously focused more on the historical aspect, specifically mentioning the two countries' "fight against the Japanese militarist invaders" during World War II, describing "the friendship forged by blood and fire will be passed down from generation to generation."

He recalled Trump's visit to China in May this year, "We agreed to build a constructive strategic and stable relationship between China and the United States." He also said that the "candid and in-depth exchange" between the two sides today "provided new strategic guidance for Sino-US relations."

Who attends the state banquet?

Many American technology and financial giants gathered at the White House, and some even sat at the same table with the leaders of the two countries, including:

Huida CEO Jensen Huang and his wife Lori Huang

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su and her husband Daniel Lin

Attendees also included a number of technology heavyweights from companies such as OpenAI, Amazon and Google.

It is worth noting that among the guest list of more than 130 people, it is reported that only 19 people belong to the Chinese delegation, but there are no business people.

During Trump's visit to Beijing in May this year, the Chinese seats at the main table of the state banquet were mainly composed of government officials.

One of the important topics at this summit is whether it is possible for the United States and China to cooperate on issues related to artificial intelligence security in the future.

However, Anthropic representatives did not attend the state dinner. The company is one of the largest and most valuable artificial intelligence companies in the world. A BBC reporter asked Anthropic whether he was not invited or decided not to attend on his own, but has yet to receive a reply.

Anthropic has always taken a tougher stance on artificial intelligence and China. The company has not only warned many times about the risks that artificial intelligence may bring if it lacks supervision, it has also warned about China issues.

Its chief executive, Dario Amodei, warned in an article that if China takes the lead in the artificial intelligence race, it will pose a "serious danger" to the United States and the world. China strongly refuted the relevant statement.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that arguments that paint China as a “threat” will only interfere with the AI ​​governance process.

After Xi Jinping started his visit to the United States, the English version of China's Global Times published a number of commentary articles calling on China and the United States to become "partners, not adversaries." Many of the articles mentioned artificial intelligence (AI) and believed that artificial intelligence "should become a new area to expand Sino-US cooperation."

In terms of food, the state banquet chose sparkling wine from Schloss Schönberg Winery, which was a tribute to history.

In 1972, when then-U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China and held the famous "Toast to Peace" with then-Premier Zhou Enlai, he used wine from the same winery.

Melania's office announced the state banquet menu, which includes: yellow pumpkin bisque as an appetizer, sesame-crusted seabass as a main course, served with bok choy and grilled eggplant, and vanilla custard with sour cherry preserves and walnut almond cream as dessert; the office said it aims to showcase "American ingredients with delicate Chinese flavors."

Three U.S. news organizations banned from covering state dinner

Reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) said earlier that a judge had ruled that their right to enter the White House campus for interviews must be restored, but they were still denied entry to cover the White House state dinner.

Trump has banned these three American media outlets from entering the White House since last Saturday, accusing them of publishing "fake news."

Reporters from three media outlets were allowed to re-enter the White House campus Thursday morning after a federal judge ruled early Thursday morning that the ban may be unconstitutional and ordered the administration to restore their interview rights.

However, the agencies said that night that they were prohibited from covering the state dinner.

Signals released from the summit so far

Some Democratic lawmakers criticized the summit for focusing too much on "pomp and circumstance" rather than substantive results. So far, there has been no breakthrough on major divisive issues such as trade, artificial intelligence, arms sales to Taiwan, and key minerals.

A statement obtained by Reuters showed that 19 out of 47 members of the Democratic caucus signed a petition urging the president to immediately provide billions of dollars in funding and arms sales to Taiwan, and to demand that China release American citizens wrongly detained.

These Democratic lawmakers also criticized Trump for relaxing restrictions on the export of high-end chips to China.

Beijing and Washington have agreed to extend their trade truce by two months to buy time to negotiate a larger deal.

Charu Chanana, investment strategist at Saxo Markets, said that the uncertainty that companies currently face about the business environment they will operate in in the next few months is not much different from before.

Companies are paying attention to actual signals, such as "announced tariff adjustments," rare earth export arrangements, agricultural product procurement, and changes in U.S. chip export rules.

"These factors are more important than the friendly atmosphere displayed by the summit," Chanana said.

"My interpretation is that this is a summit aimed at maintaining stability, not a summit to achieve breakthroughs."

Demonstrations taking place in many places in Washington

During Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, demonstrations occurred in many places in the capital Washington.

A group of demonstrators protested against the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Human rights groups believe that China has detained more than 1 million Uighurs in so-called "re-education camps" against their will in recent years.

Aziz Sulayman, a demonstrator from Virginia, told Reuters that his brother Alim Sulayman, a dentist, was arrested 10 years ago.

"I don't know where he is now," he said. "As far as I know, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison without any court trial or due process of law. He is innocent. He is a young Uyghur man. We hope he can be freed."

Beijing considers Tibet an integral part of China, but Tibetan leaders say the increase in Chinese troops and officials stationed there is weakening their religious beliefs and traditional culture.

Some politicians in Washington have been supporting the Tibetan independence movement. Democratic Party heavyweight Nancy Pelosi visited the demonstrators.