'Historic Moment': US President Donald Trump Hails China Visit After Talks With Xi On Taiwan, AI & Trade

US President Donald Trump on Friday (local time), after his return to Washington, described his two-day summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping as a 'historic moment', claiming that the two countries had reached 'fantastic trade deals' and made major progress on several major geopolitical issues, including Taiwan, artificial intelligence, Iran and nuclear arms reduction.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington via Anchorage, Alaska, Trump repeatedly praised Xi and said the visit marked a major diplomatic breakthrough between the world’s two largest economies.

“That was a great success. It was fantastic. We made great deals, we have a great relationship. A lot of things have happened that you will be hearing about. But that was a tremendous success. I think it really was a historic moment,” Trump said.

Key Discussion On Taiwan

The US President revealed that Taiwan emerged as one of the central issues during the talks, with Xi strongly opposing any move towards Taiwanese independence. “President Xi and I talked a lot about Taiwan. On Taiwan, he does not want to see a fight for independence because that would be a very strong confrontation,” Trump said.

According to Trump, Xi also directly questioned Washington’s military commitment towards Taiwan and raised concerns over continued US arms sales to the island. “He asked me if I'd defend them. I said, I don't talk about that,” Trump told reporters, adding that he would decide “over the next fairly short period of time” whether future arms sales to Taiwan would continue.

The summit also focused heavily on artificial intelligence cooperation and the risks associated with advanced technologies. Trump said both countries discussed establishing safeguards and guardrails around AI systems to prevent threats linked to biological weapons, cyber warfare and nuclear risks. “AI is fantastic. So many things can happen in terms of health and medicine and operations, everything, the military,” Trump said.

On the economic front, Trump announced what he described as a major aviation agreement involving Boeing aircraft sales to China. According to Trump, the deal involves more than 200 aircraft initially, with the possibility of expanding to nearly 750 planes in the future. He also said the two sides discussed nuclear arms reduction involving China, Russia and the United States, describing denuclearisation as an idea that would be very good.

In one of the more candid moments of the interaction, Trump acknowledged ongoing cyber espionage activities between both nations. “We spy like hell on them, too,” he said while responding to questions regarding Chinese espionage operations in the United States.

Trump further disclosed that Xi agreed Iran should not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, suggesting broader strategic coordination between Washington and Beijing despite long-standing rivalry over trade, technology, military influence and the Indo-Pacific region.