Trump arrives in Beijing for summit with Xi, after US and China trade chiefs hold last-minute talks

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SINGAPORE – US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on May 13, marking the start of a three-day state visit that is being closely watched by the world as the war in the Middle East rages on and the heated rivalry between the world’s two largest economies intensifies.

Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 7.50pm local time. Stepping onto the tarmac – the first time a US president has touched Chinese soil in over eight years – Mr Trump was met by China’s Vice-President Han Zheng. A military band serenaded his arrival while 300 young Chinese waved American and Chinese flags and chanted “Welcome, welcome. A warm welcome.”

Mr Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping face to face for the seventh time over a series of bilateral meetings and informal gatherings on May 14 and 15. He will also be hosted to a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People and make a stop inside the Zhongnanhai compound, where China’s top leadership works and lives.

Other dignitaries who welcomed the President at the Beijing airport on May 13 included US Ambassador to China David Perdue, Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng and China’s Executive Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu.

Among those who travelled with Mr Trump on the presidential plane to China were US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Mr Trump’s son and daughter-in-law, Eric and Lara Trump.

Speaking to reporters in Washington on May 11, Mr Trump had said he would discuss the issue of Iran, as well as energy security and arms sales to Taiwan, when he met Mr Xi, though he later said he did not expect to need China’s help to end the conflict.

Both countries are expected to announce plans for the so-called “Board of Trade” and “Board of Investment” – new bilateral mechanisms proposed by the Trump administration to manage trade and investment disputes in non-sensitive sectors.

China is also expected to announce purchases related to Boeing airplanes, ​American agriculture and energy. The two countries will discuss extending an ongoing truce in their trade war too.

Mr Trump’s arrival on May 13 stirred excitement in the Chinese capital, with the highway route leaving the airport decorated with American and Chinese flags. Skyscrapers were lit up with Chinese characters meaning “Beijing Welcome”.

By 7.45pm, a small crowd of more than 100 people had gathered at a carpark near Beijing Capital Airport, hoping for a glimpse of Air Force One. They quickly dispersed when they realised the plane had landed out of their sight.

Meanwhile, more than nine million people tuned in to state broadcaster CCTV’s live stream of Mr Trump’s arrival. “Trump arriving in Beijing” became the top trending topic on Weibo, China’s version of X, shortly after 8pm.

Close to the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Beijing, a large crowd of several hundred people had also gathered, jostling for a glimpse of the US President’s motorcade.

The Straits Times observed that security was extremely tight as guards started to clear the roads and pavements of cars and pedestrians from about 7.30pm.

A passerby exclaimed loudly that even Chinese New Year events were not as crowded. “It is as if the American President is bringing the festive spirit to China,” he said.

Earlier in the day, trade representatives from the US and China were busy laying the groundwork for Mr Trump’s visit as they held last-minute talks in South Korea that appeared to have ended on a positive note.

Delegations led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng met behind closed doors at a VIP area at the Incheon International Airport on May 13, hours before Mr Trump arrived in Beijing.

The meeting lasted about three hours, concluding around 3.50pm local time (2.50pm in Singapore), according to Bloomberg.

Chinese state media said the two delegations held “candid, in-depth and constructive” exchanges on trade and economic issues of mutual concern, as well as on further expanding practical cooperation. There were no immediate details about the specific issues that were discussed.

The American and Chinese trade teams last met face to face in Paris in March, shortly after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on Feb 28.

The ongoing war in the Middle East led to Mr Trump delaying his trip to China, which was originally slated for the end of March.

Joining Mr Trump in China are more than a dozen prominent US business and technology executives, including Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, outgoing Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Meta president Dina Powell McCormick.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was a late addition to the line-up, boarding Air Force One in Alaska during a refuelling stop.

Mr Trump’s delegation in China will also include the heads of major financial institutions such as BlackRock, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Rounding out the group are the chief executives of semiconductor companies Micron, Qualcomm and Coherent, as well as the chiefs of airplane maker Boeing, aircraft engine maker GE Aerospace, American food giant Cargill and biotechnology firm Illumina.

The make-up of the guest list provides some indication of the deals that Mr Trump hopes to strike, and the topics that will be raised during the summit.

In a social media post before his arrival in Beijing, Mr Trump said he will ask Mr Xi to “open up” China “so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level”.

“In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request,” he wrote.

Professor John Quelch, executive vice-chancellor and an expert in global strategy at Duke Kunshan University, told The Straits Times that he believes the meeting between Mr Bessent and Mr He in Seoul was to “dot the i’s and cross the t’s” on economic agreements that have already been long under discussion.

“They should ensure that there is positive momentum ahead of talks between the two presidents, which I expect will be successful and well-received in terms of the public optics and personality dynamics,” Prof Quelch said, adding that the agreements will likely be modest and tactical, rather than any grand bargain.

After their summit in Beijing, Mr Trump and Mr Xi are expected to meet three more times in 2026.

Apart from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Group of 20 summits being held in Shenzhen and Miami respectively at the end of the year, there are plans for Mr Xi to make a reciprocal state visit to Washington – the first trip to the US by the Chinese leader since 2015.