Later, as their 100-minute meeting drew to an end in South Korea’s second-largest city, Xi and Trump walked side by side toward the venue’s exit. They clasped hands in farewell.
The two presidents met amid mounting global economic challenges and protectionist trends. Many global observers viewed this high-stakes meeting as a crucial opportunity to steady what many describe as the world’s most important bilateral relationship and reinvigorate confidence in the global economy.
Charting course for ties
Since Trump took office in January, the two heads of state have maintained close communication through telephone calls and letters. As noted by Xi during the meeting, under their joint guidance, China-US relations have remained stable on the whole.
In the face of winds, waves and challenges, Xi said, the two leaders should stay on the right course, navigate through the complex landscape, and ensure the steady sailing forward of the giant ship of China-US relations.
Trump conveyed this spirit of collaboration, stating that US-China relations have traditionally been strong and will continue to improve, expressing hope for a brighter shared future.
It was not the first time that Xi used the metaphor of recalibrating the direction of “the giant ship of China-US relations” to highlight the core task facing current bilateral relations.
In a phone conversation with Trump in June after a China-US high-level meeting on economic and trade affairs in Geneva, which set in motion a series of subsequent bilateral economic and trade talks, Xi stressed that it was “particularly important” for the two leaders to steer clear of various disturbances and disruptions.
The two sides need to make good use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism already in place, and seek win-win results in the spirit of equality and respect for each other’s concerns, Xi said then.
China-US interactions should embody the characteristics of a new era, said Gu Qingyang, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, noting that the so-called “Thucydides Trap,” which refers to confrontation between an established power and a rising one, is not inevitable as many believe.
“We do not wish to see China and the United States divided, decoupled, or in confrontation, as that would be detrimental to both. The two nations are already leading global countries, and each is too strong to ignore the other,” said Gu.
In the run-up to the Busan meeting, the two countries’ economic and trade teams held a new round of consultations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, reaching a basic consensus on addressing respective major concerns, which provided the necessary conditions for the meeting on Thursday.
On Thursday, Xi urged the two sides to work out and finalize the follow-up steps as soon as possible, and ensure that the common understandings are effectively upheld and implemented, to inject confidence into the two countries as well as the global economy through solid deliverables.
The two teams can continue their talks in the spirit of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit, and continuously shorten the list of problems and lengthen the list of cooperation, Xi said.
In a written statement to Xinhua, Maya Majueran, founding director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, said that the meeting sent a signal of reassurance that the world’s two largest economies seek to manage their relationship responsibly rather than drift toward confrontation.
For Tom Watkins, a former advisor to the Michigan-China Innovation Center, “mutual respect” is the key to future US-China relations.
“Each side needs to understand a miscalculation will have devastating consequences,” said Watkins, adding that despite the ups and downs in bilateral ties in the past decades, “the two sides have sensibly navigated forward.”
“All major global issues intersect at the corner of Beijing and Washington. And how our leaders resolve those issues will shape the future of the world,” said Watkins.
Broader impact on Asia-Pacific and beyond
The world is grappling with mounting uncertainties and rising protectionist tendencies, and the Asia-Pacific is no exception. Trade barriers are stacking up, geopolitical rivalries are deepening, and the multilateral trading system is under increasing strain. Against this backdrop, Xi’s call for dialogue over confrontation resonated far beyond the meeting room in Busan.
Noting that China-US economic and trade relations have experienced ups and downs recently, Xi said that the business relationship should continue to serve as the anchor and driving force for China-US relations, not a stumbling block or a point of friction. The two sides should think big and recognize the long-term benefit of cooperation, and must not fall into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation, Xi said.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday unveiled the outcomes achieved by Chinese and US delegations during their recent economic and trade talks in Kuala Lumpur.
The US side will cancel the 10-percent so-called “fentanyl tariffs” and suspend, for an additional year, the 24-percent reciprocal tariffs levied on Chinese goods, including goods from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region, a spokesperson of the ministry said, adding that in turn, China will make corresponding adjustments to its countermeasures and continue certain tariff exclusion measures.
The United States will suspend for one year the implementation of a new rule announced on Sept. 29 that expands its “entity-list” export restrictions to any entity that is at least 50 percent owned by one or more entities on the list. China will suspend the implementation of relevant export control measures announced on Oct. 9 for one year and will study and refine specific plans, the spokesperson said.
Other outcomes included Washington agreeing to suspend for one year the measures under its Section 301 investigation targeting China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, with Beijing setting to correspondingly suspend its countermeasures once the US suspension takes effect.
Experts across the Asia-Pacific region view this cooperative vision as both timely and necessary.
From Beijing’s perspective, the path forward is not one of inevitable competition but of necessary coordination, said Majueran, adding that the Chinese leadership frequently emphasizes a “win-win” model of cooperation, an approach that rejects zero-sum thinking in favor of shared progress.
The Xi-Trump meeting offers an opportunity to de-escalate tensions between the two major countries and a return to dialogue to resolve outstanding issues, said Eng Kok Thay, secretary of state of Cambodia’s Council of Ministers.
During the meeting on Thursday, Xi noted that the world today is confronted with many tough problems, saying that China and the United States can jointly shoulder their responsibility as major countries, and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of the two countries and the whole world.
“The trajectory of China-US relations will largely define the strategic and economic environment of the Asia-Pacific and beyond,” said Eng Kok Thay.
Cooperation ensures trade stability, technology exchange and security, outcomes that benefit not only the region but the entire world, he added.
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Reporter: Xinhua
Editor: Anton Santoso
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