Xi seeks 'trust,' continued dialogue, 'healthy' competition as Trump hosts Chinese leader

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for "trust," continued dialogue and "healthy competition" as US President Donald Trump hosted him at the White House.

Beijing and Washington should strengthen communication, Xi said, stressing that despite differences in their "national conditions," the two countries can better understand each other, seek common ground, and build mutual trust through "candid, in-depth, and continued dialogue."

He encouraged strengthened contacts between Chinese and US government departments, including those overseeing foreign affairs, the economy, financial cooperation, law enforcement, and people-to-people exchanges.

He also voiced support for greater exchanges between the two countries' legislative bodies.

Xi urged the two countries to shoulder a "historic responsibility" to advance human development.

Beijing and Washington should "cooperate with sincerity," as their interests are "deeply intertwined" and there is "plenty of room" for cooperation, he said.

"We should coexist in peace," said Xi, adding that as two major countries they "stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in confrontation."

Xi emphasized that China and the US do not need to avoid competition, but that it should be "healthy" and "kept within bounds." He called for "a race of catching up with each other," rather than a zero-sum "wrestling match in which one either wins or loses."

China and the US "must hold the line of no conflict and no confrontation," he stressed, while calling for regular dialogue and improved mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention between their respective militaries.

"The Thucydides trap can be overcome," he said, referring to the risk of conflict between a rising power and an established one, a concept coming from US novelist Herman Wouk, referring to the ancient Greek historian.

Xi welcomed US companies to invest and do business in China, and urged fair treatment of Chinese companies in the US.

He said China-US cooperation may not solve every global problem, but many would be difficult to solve without it.

On AI, he said both countries have the "capability and responsibility" to develop and manage AI for good, ensuring it remains under human control and serves people's well-being.

He invited 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years.

"Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand," said Xi, urging cooperation to "build a better world."

Trump, speaking before Xi, said the two countries "have been working to encourage a more balanced trading relationship, including the new market access for American farmers and ranchers."

He said that the two sides would discuss "pressing issues" concerning security, technology, and superintelligence, during Xi's visit.

"The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come," Trump added.

He welcomed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Wednesday, a rare gesture by any US president, who normally receives visiting leaders at the White House.

Xi's three-day state visit marks his first state visit to Washington in more than a decade. The visit coincided with an extension of a US-China trade truce until Jan. 10.

His visit also marks the first time a Chinese president has made a second visit to the US.

The two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1979.