Beijing (AFP) – Residents in China’s capital hope President Xi Jinping’s high-stakes meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington will stabilise ties between the two countries, telling AFP on Thursday a trade war “hurts everyone”. Xi was greeted in Washington on Wednesday evening local time by Trump, kicking off a pomp-filled state visit where the two leaders are expected to discuss everything from AI and trade to Iran.
In Beijing, a 59-year-old resident surnamed Huang called it a “very important” visit which would be critical in shaping the relationship between the two global superpowers. “As an ordinary citizen, I naturally hope that China-US relations can achieve long-term, stable, and mutually beneficial development,” Huang told AFP in central Beijing on an overcast Thursday morning. “I also hope that through President Xi’s visit to the US and friendly, harmonious, and goodwill communication with President Trump, we can develop bilateral relations,” he added.
Beijingers AFP spoke to were hopeful Xi’s meeting with Trump would ease trade pressures, which came to a head with a blistering tariff war in 2025, before a fragile truce was reached in October. Though analysts expect the summit to be more about spectacle than substance, there was an early breakthrough on Wednesday, when Washington announced a two-month extension of the trade truce that was due to expire in November.
Finance worker Lu Hao said he was watching for any economic agreements following the talks, recounting how “distressed” he and his clients were during the trade war. “I really hope this visit sends out positive signals and brings more good news to global stock markets,” 27-year-old Lu told AFP. “Because at the beginning (of the trade war), our stock market took the brunt of the impact right from the start,” he said. “It became clear that a trade war is a lose-lose situation.”
Lucy Lu, who works in the foreign trade services industry, told AFP that it “hurts everyone” when major powers clash. “For export businesses, certain goods have become really hard to ship out” as a result of higher tariffs, said the 43-year-old. “I really hope countries can maintain a friendly approach to tariffs.”
Artificial intelligence is also likely to come up in the talks, as both countries strive for dominance in technology and robotics, while also mitigating growing fears that AI could wipe out humanity. “In terms of AI…China now has the strength to go toe-to-toe with the US,” Lucy Lu told AFP.
Competition may still “outweigh agreements,” because at the end of the day, she said, “whichever country gains the upper hand in the field of AI down the road” will likely come out stronger. However, AI competition “should be a healthy and rational one, rather than a malicious one,” Huang told AFP. He expects Xi to stand firm on hot topics like Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory and has threatened to seize by force.
Taiwan has ramped up its defence spending in recent years, but remains reliant on US security support to deter Beijing. “Our government has its bottom line. I hope the United States will respect China’s bottom line and its sense of historical identity,” Huang added. He and the other Beijingers said they hoped Xi’s visit to the United States could bring more peace and stability to the world already fractured by war.
“If US-China relations are good, it will benefit the entire global landscape,” Lucy Lu said. “I just hope the world becomes more peaceful.”
© 2024 AFP
