We have China president Xi Jinping up first:

• Had in-depth exchange of views with US president Trump today
• We both believe US-China ties are the most important bilateral ties in the world
• US, China should become partners, not rivals
• Mutual respect is key to stable US-China ties
• Should jointly promote relations between the two countries along the right path

Meanwhile, US president Trump says that:

• We had extremely positive and constructive discussions
• US-China relationship is one of the most consequential in world history
• We have a chance to create a future of greater cooperation and prosperity

Trump has also extended an invite to Xi to visit the US on 24 September. So, mark that down in your calendars just in case.

For now, the comments at the banquet are pretty much just an exchange of pleasantries and nothing too notable. The earlier meeting details and the outcome seem to be mostly covered by Bessent here.

All in all, it seems that the visit is just to reaffirm stable ties between the two countries at a time of economic turbulence set out by the Middle East conflict. At the very least, markets don’t have to worry about another tariffs war for the time being.

But otherwise, there’s nothing much else to really take away from the happenings in Beijing today thus far.

The most interesting contrast is perhaps the focus of the commentary. The US, as per Bessent’s remarks above, are mostly focusing on trade issues and business/investment ties. They want to try and get something out of their visit to show for at least.

Meanwhile, China via the foreign ministry and state media commentary outlines that Taiwan is the biggest and “most critical” issue at hand. The latter even went as far as noting down a warning by Xi that if the US meddles about with China’s business in Taiwan, there will be consequences to pay.

And so far, we’ve seen absolutely zero commentary from the US camp on Taiwan besides Bessent pointing out that he is “confident that Trump understands the issues there”. Adding that we will hear more from Trump on that in the coming days.