President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday for a lavish summit that was heavy on symbolism but light on substance, with no sign of breakthroughs on thorny issues such as AI, trade, Taiwan and the war with Iran.

The two leaders and their wives attended a state dinner, a black-tie affair of sesame-crusted sea bass and a guest list heavy with tech CEOs. Outside the gate, a group of loud protesters shouted slogans like “China out of Hong Kong” that were clearly audible to the leaders as they posed for pictures on the red-carpeted White House steps.

In his dinner toast, Trump said he and Xi “both understand we represent different systems but the ties between our people endure and we’ve never gotten along better.”

Trump then invited dinner guests to tour the site of the new ballroom he is building nearby, hours after showing Xi a helipad he had had built in the White House complex. Construction projects are a frequent digression for a president who has put a lot of focus on remaking Washington’s physical infrastructure.

Xi said he and Trump had in-depth discussions and reached “common understanding on many issues” that provided “new strategic guidance for China-US relations.” He did not elaborate.

“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries,” he said, calling for “a new approach for major countries to get along with each other.”

The meeting was striking for where it took place – in Washington, even as scores of world leaders were in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

It took place at a time of rising public concern about the swift growth of AI, and as Trump struggles to resolve a war his administration and Israel began with Iran, which has sharply driven up energy prices and weighed heavily on his public approval as November midterm elections approach.

Taiwan Talks

During a bilateral discussion in the afternoon, Xi urged the US to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a readout from the official Chinese news agency – addressing one of the thorniest issues between the two countries. The White House has not yet provided its own summary of the talks.

Xi had been expected to press Trump this week to halt arms sales to Taiwan. Following his visit to China in May, Trump said he was holding in abeyance an arms package to Taiwan worth some $14 billion and called it a “very good negotiating chip.”

That move left some US allies in Asia and even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans concerned that he may be tempted to soften Washington’s support for Taipei in exchange for economic wins. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force to gain control over the island.

The summit between the two leaders came shortly after Trump forcefully defended his use of military power in a speech at the UN earlier this week, suggesting he could “annihilate” Iran. He took a strikingly different tone with Xi on Thursday, reflecting a power balance that has shifted toward the Chinese leader after a trade war that ended with a US climbdown on tariffs.

In remarks after Xi’s arrival on Thursday, Trump emphasized his “truly great friendship” with Xi, rather than focusing on policy differences, and said the two powers had made strides on trade since his trip to China in May.

Somewhat more pointely, Xi said the two countries’ interests were deeply intertwined and that competition between them should be a “healthy one.” US companies were welcome in China, he said, adding that he hopes “Chinese companies are treated fairly here in the United States.”

Xi also said both militaries should maintain regular dialogue to improve crisis prevention.

Personal vs. National

Edgard Kagan, a former senior White House official for East Asia, said the contrasting rhetoric demonstrates the different strategy of each leader.

“The president is casting it very much as about his personal relationship with Xi,” said Kagan, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “What I found interesting was Xi is being much more cautious and suggesting that it’s less about the personal relationship than the national relationship.”

The summit, Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade, is the second meeting this year between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies.

For Trump, who relishes ceremony and prizes his ties with powerful leaders, the visit is as much a matter of national prestige as an opportunity for high-stakes diplomacy.

But Trump and Xi’s remarks were not carried live by any US television networks, which refused to provide footage in protest of the White House’s ban of CNN, MS Now and Politico.

During his comments on Thursday, Xi said both countries must “ensure that the development of AI is always under human control.”

Analysts say intense competition between the two powers in AI is likely to limit the scope for anything beyond symbolic agreements.

There has been little sign Beijing is willing to exert pressure on Iran to yield to US demands. During Thursday’s meeting, Xi expressed support for the US and Iran to return to a ceasefire and eventually negotiate a peace deal, Xinhua reported.

State Dinner

The guest list for Thursday’s state dinner includeD CEOs like Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. Despite such an array, people familiar with US plans say Trump is likely to maintain firm export controls on US tech Xi wants loosened.

Here is the list of invited guests, according to the White House press office:

• JD Vance, Vice President

• Usha Vance, Second Lady

• Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State

• Jeanette Rubio, Spouse of Marco Rubio

• Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff

• David Perdue, US Ambassador to China

• Bonnie Perdue, Spouse of David Perdue

• Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury

• John Freeman, Spouse of Scott Bessent

• Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense

• Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative

• Marlo Greer, Spouse of Jamieson Greer

• John Roberts, US Supreme Court

• Jane Sullivan Roberts, Spouse of John Roberts

• Justice Amy Coney Barrett, US Supreme Court

• Jesse Barrett, Spouse of Amy Coney Barrett

• Brett Kavanaugh, US Supreme Court

• Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, Spouse of Brett Kavanaugh

• Mike Johnson, Speaker of the US House of Representatives

• Kelly Johnson, Spouse of Mike Johnson

• Richard McCormick, Member of the US House of Representatives

• Kevin Warsh, Chairman of the Federal Reserve

• Jane Lauder, Spouse of Kevin Warsh

• Howard Lutnick, US Secretary of Commerce

• Allison Lutnick, Spouse of Howard Lutnick

• John Ratcliffe, CIA Director

• Michele Ratcliffe, Spouse to John Ratcliffe

• Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy to Middle East

• Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

• Katie Miller, Spouse of Stephen Miller

• Dan Scavino, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

• Erin Scavino, Spouse of Dan Scavino

• Todd Blanche, Attorney General

• Kristine Blanche, Spouse to Todd Blanche

• Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services

• Cheryl Hines, Spouse of Secretary Kennedy

• Linda McMahon, US Secretary of Education

• Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior

• Kathryn Burgum, Spouse of Secretary Burgum

• Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation

• Rachel Campos-Duffy, Spouse of Sean Duffy

• Russell Vought, White House Budget Director

• Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

• Keith Sonderling, Acting Secretary of Labor

• Kelly Loeffler, Administrator of the Small Business Administration

• Jeffrey Sprecher, Spouse of Kelly Loeffler

• Jason Smith, Member of the US House of Representatives

• Steven Daines, Member of the US Senate

• Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

• Jay Clayton, Director of National Intelligence

Chinese officials

• Cai Qi, Member of the Politburo Standing Committee

• Wang Yi, Foreign Minister

• He Lifeng, Vice Premier

• Zheng Shanjie, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission

• Wang Wentao, Commerce Minister

• Ma Zhaoxu, Vice Foreign Minister

• Xie Feng, Ambassador to the US

• Wang Dan, Wife of Ambassador Xie Feng

• Tang Fangyu, Director of the Central Policy Research Office

• Lan Fo’an, Finance Minister

• Zhou Hongxu, Director of the Central Security Bureau

• Lyu Luhua, Secretary to President Xi

• Hong Lei, Assistant Foreign Minister

• Cai Wei, Assistant Foreign Minister

• Mao Ning, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Zhang Quan, Secretary to Madame Peng

• Zhang Yongchao, Deputy Director General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Guests

• Ivanka Trump

• Eric Trump

• Lara Trump

• Tiffany Trump

• Michael Boulos

• Viktor Knavs

• Arabella Kushner

• Jensen Huang, Nvidia

• Lori Huang, Spouse of Jensen Huang

• Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms

• Lisa Su, Advanced Micro Devices

• Daniel Lin, Spouse of Lisa Su

• Tim Cook, Apple

• John F.W. Rogers, Goldman Sachs

• Lynn Martin, New York Stock Exchange

• Linda Mills, New York University

• Eric Yuan, Zoom, CEO

• Kelly Ortberg, Boeing

• Larry Fink, BlackRock

• Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone

• Sam Altman, OpenAI

• Greg Brockman, OpenAI

• Anna Brockman, Wife of Greg Brockman

• Miriam Adelson, Las Vegas Sands

• Sergey Brin, Google

• Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, Partner of Sergey Brin

• Satya Nadella, Microsoft

• Jim Taiclet, Lockheed Martin

• Sundar Pichai, Google

• Larry Culp, GE Aerospace

• Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron

• Sangeeta Mehrotra, Spouse of Sanjay Mehrotra

• Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm

• Jeff Bezos, Amazon

• Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Spouse of Jeff Bezos

• Jeff Yass, Susquehanna International Group

• Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase

• Michael Dell, Dell Technologies

• Susan Dell, Spouse of Michael Dell

• Mary Barra, General Motors

• Anthony Barra, Spouse of Mary Barra

• David Solomon, Goldman Sachs

• Jane Fraser, Citigroup

• Elon Musk, SpaceX

• Darren Woods, ExxonMobil

• Kathryn Woods, Spouse of Darren Woods

• Bret Baier, FOX News

• Amy Baier, Spouse of Bret Baier

• Laura Ingraham, FOX News

• Jesse Watters, FOX News

• Emma Watters, Spouse of Jesse Watters

• David Ellison, Paramount Skydance

• Sandra Lynn Ellison, Spouse of David Ellison

• Brad Gerstner, Altimeter

• Katie Simpson, Partner of Brad Gerstner

• Albert Bourla, Pfizer

• David Sacks, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and Craft Ventures

• Bernard Arnault, LVMH

• Alexandre Arnault, Son of Bernard Arnault

• Ryan McInerney, Visa

• Michael Miebach, Mastercard

• Meredith O’Rourke, The O’Rourke Group

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Andrea Shalal, David Lawder, Courtney Rozen and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei, and Joe Cash in Beijing; Writing by Joseph Ax and Steve Holland; Editing by Don Durfee, Colleen Jenkins, Louise Heavens, Alistair Bell and Stephen Coates)