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Vanessa Cai

The chandeliers glittered at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday night when Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump raised a toast to a “fantastic” summit.
“It was a fantastic day, and in particular, I want to thank President Xi, my friend, for this magnificent welcome ... and for so graciously hosting us on this very historic state visit,” Trump said, nearly nine years after his first presidential trip to the Chinese capital.
The banquet capped a day that yielded a pledge from both sides to work towards “constructive strategic stability” and included a visit to the Temple of Heaven Unesco World Heritage site.
The two leaders will meet again on Friday for a tea and working lunch.
Calling Trump’s visit a “historic” trip, Xi said at the banquet that the two countries “should be partners rather than rivals”.
“We both believe that the China-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. We must make it work and never mess it up.”
Trump highlighted the countries’ shared history, and described his talks with Xi as “extremely positive and productive”. He then invited the Chinese leader to visit the White House at the end of September.


Before the formalities began, Chinese and American officials, business leaders and ministers mingled in the hall.
Among the guests were Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as well as American business executives and senior US officials.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was seen speaking with Li Chenggang, one of China’s top trade negotiators, before also greeting Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
Elsewhere in the hall, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun approached Tesla’s Elon Musk, with the two later posing for a selfie.
The guests then sat down at tables adorned with lotus flowers and miniature replicas of Beijing landmarks, including the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests that the two leaders toured earlier in the day.
The menu blended Chinese and Western dishes, with servings of crispy beef ribs and lobster in tomato soup. Other dishes included pan-fried pork buns and Peking duck.

On Trump’s last visit to Beijing in November 2017, accompanied by his wife Melania, Xi and the Chinese first lady hosted a banquet for them in the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People in what was termed a “state visit-plus”.
The banquet was attended by a number of senior officials, including then Chinese premier Li Keqiang, as well as then US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and several other senior White House officials.
“We are in full agreement that China and the US should be partners rather than adversaries and that cooperation between the two countries can accomplish many things beneficial to both nations and the world,” Xi told the gathering.
In return, Trump expressed gratitude “for the extraordinary hospitality that you’ve shown us from the moment we arrived in your magnificent country, China”. He also observed that “this moment in history presents both our nations with an incredible opportunity to advance peace and prosperity alongside other nations all around the world”.
Xiaomi’s Lei Jun was also a guest at the banquet then and later shared the menu on social media, revealing a combination of Chinese and Western cuisine that included kung pao chicken – one of the most well-known dishes in the US to originate from China.
Also on the menu were a seafood chowder, coconut-flavoured chicken soup, stewed beef with tomato sauce, braised vegetables in premium broth and grouper fillets in hot chilli oil. The six courses presented a wider choice than the four served to Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama at a state dinner in 2009.
The November 2017 banquet for the Trumps was accompanied by red and dry white wines from Great Wall, one of the best-known Chinese wine labels and a popular choice at Chinese state banquets since the 1980s.
A highlight of the occasion came after Trump’s toast, with a video of his granddaughter Arabella, wearing a Chinese-style dress in front of an American flag and singing a traditional song in Mandarin – a performance the Chinese leader in turn graded with an “A plus”.

A day earlier, shortly after the Trumps arrived in Beijing, they were hosted at an afternoon tea in the Forbidden City. They then sat down for dinner, also in the former imperial palace, marking the first time a foreign head of state had dined there with a Chinese president since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.
While at the site, Trump’s itinerary included watching performances of excerpts from three traditional Peking operas, including The Monkey King.
The gathering was a reciprocal arrangement in return for Trump’s focus on his personal relationship with Xi after the two leaders met for the first time in Florida in April 2017.
Trump hosted a dinner for Xi in the ornate dining room at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The atmosphere was notably cordial, with the table setting featuring silver candelabra and floral centerpieces beneath the chandeliers.
The dinner, served with two California wines, included Caesar salad and a choice of Dover sole or New York steak, with chocolate cake or sorbet for dessert.
Xi and Trump sat together with their first ladies by their side. Next to Peng was Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, then a senior White House adviser who reportedly helped to broker the meeting. On Kushner’s other side was his wife Ivanka.

Former US president Joe Biden did not visit China while in office, meeting Xi instead on the sidelines of an Apec summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
Biden and Xi sat down for a working lunch at the historic Filoli estate, south of San Francisco, along with inner-circle members from both administrations.
According to the White House, the menu featured a mix of classic American and European-style dishes, opening with herbed ricotta ravioli and artichoke crisps. This was followed by tarragon roasted heritage chicken alongside charred broccolini.
The lunch concluded with almond meringue cake and praline buttercream for dessert. Later that evening, Xi also attended a large welcome dinner with American business leaders in San Francisco.
When former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger visited Beijing in 2023, Xi’s reception for the diplomatic heavyweight also featured a notably lavish lunch, at a historic location in China-US relations.
To celebrate Kissinger’s centenary, Xi hosted an elaborate meal at the No 5 Villa of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the same place where the US diplomat met the Chinese leadership on his first visit to China in 1971.

The table setting was packed with cultural significance, including symbols of good health and 100 longevity peach buns to honour his birthday. The menu included Peking duck, the same dish that Kissinger had enjoyed at the 1971 banquet with premier Zhou Enlai.
The Diaoyutai State Guesthouse was also the venue for the banquet hosted by former president Hu Jintao for then US president Barack Obama’s visit to Beijing in 2009.
The menu was a sophisticated blend of East and West, beginning with a cold platter and minced chicken tofu, followed by main courses that included a Chinese-style steak. Dessert comprised traditional pastries and fruit ice cream, paired with Great Wall dry red and dry white wines.
In more recent meetings, Xi has also favoured hosting tea sessions for visiting state leaders, sitting down in December with French President Emmanuel Macron and the two first ladies for tea by the water in a pavilion at Dujiangyan in Sichuan province.
It was a similar arrangement to Xi and Macron’s previous informal meeting in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in April 2023. On that visit, Macron was also honoured with a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The leaders met again a year later in Paris, when Xi made his first visit to Europe in five years and received a similar honour from his French counterpart – a state dinner at the Elysee Palace that featured a menu highlighting French culture and cuisine.


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The toast, the tastes and the tech selfie that crowned the US-China summit

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Chinese and US presidents attend a glittering state banquet that combined Chinese and Western dishes

The Chinese and US presidents attend a glittering state banquet that combined Chinese and Western dishes