U.S. President Donald Trump on the 14th called his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing "great." He did not answer a question about whether the talks addressed the Taiwan issue.
According to U.S. major media reports that day, after holding a 2-hour, 15-minute meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, President Trump visited the Temple of Heaven (天壇), a 15th-century site where Ming and Qing emperors offered rites to heaven. When reporters on site asked about the outcome of the talks, Trump answered briefly, "It was great." He added, "It's a wonderful place. It's unbelievable. China is beautiful," continuing his praise for the Beijing schedule itself.
By contrast, he did not answer a question about whether the Taiwan issue was on the agenda. The reason Trump avoided answering was partly revealed in a statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mao Ning, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement right after the talks that Xi warned Trump that handling of the Taiwan issue "could lead to confrontation and conflict and could put the overall bilateral relationship at great risk." Mao also emphasized, "Taiwan is the most important issue in U.S.-China relations."
Xi also said in opening remarks at the meeting, "Success for one side is an opportunity for the other," and, "China and the United States gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. We should be partners, not rivals." He went on to ask whether the two countries could avoid the Thucydides Trap, the historical pattern of great-power conflict.
The agenda for this summit spans nearly the entire front of bilateral tensions, including trade, tariff, semiconductors, rare earths, artificial intelligence (AI), the Iran war, and Taiwan. The U.S. delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as key corporate leaders such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. After the Temple of Heaven schedule, President Trump is set to attend a state banquet hosted by Xi and carry out summit diplomacy through May 15.