BEIJING – Warmly welcomed to China with great pomp and pageantry, US President Donald Trump pronounced himself wowed by Beijing’s lavish greeting yesterday afternoon at the start of a state visit in which he is expected to press the rising world power on trade and North Korea.
A visit sure to include tough negotiations on multiple policy fronts began with a full-on display of diplomatic niceties: The US president and first lady Melania Trump were greeted at the airport by dozens of children who waved US and Chinese flags and jumped up and down. The couple sipped tea with Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, and received a private tour of the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, Beijing’s ancient imperial palace. Young opera students performed for them before dinner.
“I believe the visit will achieve positive and important results with concerted efforts of both sides,” Xi said during the tour, adding the visit is extensively watched in China and the United States, and other countries around the world.
President Xi Jinping (2nd from right) and his wife Peng Liyuan (1st from right), and US President Donald Trump (2nd from left) and his wife Melania Trump pose for a photo in front of Taihedian, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, during their visit to the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing yesterday. – Xinhua
