Trump hails ‘great friendship’ with Xi as Chinese leader visits White House

Military personnel lined the stairs as Donald Trump welcomed Xi Jinping to the White House for the first time in more than a decade.

All the pomp and ceremony has been rolled out for the Chinese president's three-day visit, with Trump hosting a formal welcome on the White House South Lawn, a military flyover, and later talks in the Oval Office and a grand state banquet.

Trump praised his "truly great friendship" with the Chinese leader as the lavish reception got underway, saying together he and Xi had "made tremendous strides on the issues facing our two countries".

Xi confirmed he too was there to "carry on our friendship", announcing two pandas — a traditional symbol of Beijing's diplomacy — would arrive at a US zoo soon.

"China, US cooperation may not solve every problem in the world, but without our cooperation, it would be hard to solve many of the world's problems,"

he said.

AI must remain under 'human control', Xi says

But Trump has warned "pressing" issues would be discussed during the summit including "security, technology and super intelligence", a term Trump has started using to refer to artificial intelligence.

"The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come," the US president said at the White House.

He said while AI would be discussed, he wanted "to leave it exactly where it is".

"That is China's position also," Trump said. 

Yet Xi said that Washington and Beijing had a responsibility to "develop and manage AI for good".

"And ensure that the development of AI is always under human control," he added.

Xi added that the two countries had a "historic responsibility of advancing human development and progress" and should "strengthen communication".

Leaders of US AI companies and tech executives are expected to be in attendance at the state dinner on Thursday night, local time.  

Taiwan arms sales a 'good negotiating chip' for Trump

US and Chinese officials have also been working to encourage a more balanced trading relationship between the two countries, including new market access for American farmers, according to Trump on Thursday.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already revealed that China and the US would continue their trade truce for another two months, but it has been widely hinted that there could be some announcement on further de-escalating the trade war between the two countries which could include lowering tariffs on non-sensitive goods.

Ahead of the summit, China's defence ministry warned the US to take "extreme caution" over arms sales to Taiwan, which is another topic likely to be on the agenda.

"It should be emphasised that the Taiwan question is the most important in China-US relations and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the greatest common issue of the two countries," ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin told the media.

The Trump administration approved an US $11 billion (AUD$15.6 billion) arms package for Taiwan in December, but a second package worth about US $14 billion has been held up for months with Trump referring to it as a "very good negotiating chip".

Henrietta Levin -- a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies - told ABC's The World it was those comments that made "Beijing really excited".

"Because they potentially have an opportunity to get concessions on these really big strategic questions that are at the top of China's list of priorities," she said.

"That in the past would have been very difficult to get any movement from Washington on."

China holds the power this visit

Ms Levin also said it was Xi that likely had the power to "manoeuvre" the United States this visit. 

"For the US to go so far out of its way to show one of its chief adversaries a good time in Washington is quite a striking thing to see,"

she said.

She said the summit would largely be about "symbolism" rather than substance, adding the world was "yet to see whether progress is really achievable".

"There will be a lot of pomp for sure…but there are really important issues on the agenda too," she said.

"You can bet that the Chinese side is going to be very focused on what China calls Xi's political dignity; very focused on the optics on handshakes, on food, on just how the meeting will feel, and therefore, how the bilateral relationship will feel overall.

"Xi wants to make sure Trump doesn't do anything that would make China's economy have an even harder time, he wants to keep the US out of Taiwan, out of Asia to the degree that it can.

"I think China's quite confident that they will be able to manoeuvre the United States into a kind of stability that is ultimately favourable to China."