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Trump hails deep friendship with Xi as China's leader urges 'healthy' competition between 2 powers

Asia-Pacific 1 source 1 country 44m ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed the “truly great friendship” he has forged with Xi Jinping as the Chinese leader began his highly anticipated state visit by pressing for the world's two biggest economies to work more closely together to avoid friction as they compete.While Trump has many thorny issues to discuss with the president of America’s biggest economic rival, he focused on his long relationship with Xi as the two gathered with aides for opening remarks before formal talks.“From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually, built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said.China has resisted the Trump administration's urgings — and economic threats — to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to U.S. terms to end the nearly seven-month war. Xi wants to see Trump permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips.

The two sides on Wednesday agreed to extend by two months a one-year trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 as they work to find a more durable agreement.Xi was more pointed in his remarks, saying Chinese and American interests are “deeply intertwined” and that the “competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds."He also reiterated his warning that the U.S. and China must avoid the “ Thucydides trap," referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war.

Xi offered a similar warning when Trump visited Beijing in May.“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses,” Xi added.Xi also announced that China will invite 100,000 American youth to come to his country for studies and exchanges in the next five years and that China will send two pandas to the zoo in Atlanta. He called the beloved animals an “envoy of friendship" and that they will meet the American people in a “few days."Xi says China and US should make sure AI is ‘always under human control’Trump said in a social media post earlier Thursday that artificial intelligence — “superintelligence” as he is trying to rebrand it — will be high on the agenda amid growing global anxiety that the technology will kill jobs or potentially even wipe out humanity.“I want to lea… 10 as they work to find a more durable agreement.Xi said in his remarks upon arriving that the “competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds."“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses,” Xi added.Xi also announced that China will invite 100,000 American youth to come to his country for studies and exchanges in the next five years and that China will send two pandas to the zoo in Atlanta.

“That is China’s position also.”Xi also touched on AI in his opening comments, saying that the two countries had a responsibility to ensure that humans always operate AI.“We have both the capability and responsibility …

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