Xi set to host Trump for high stakes China-US summit amid Iran war

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host his US counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday for a high-stakes China-US summit amid the Iran war, with the ongoing conflict plus technology, trade, and tariffs all high on the agenda.

According to details of the event, Trump is scheduled to arrive at the Great Hall of the People for a summit with Chinese president on Thursday at around 10 am local time (0200GMT).

Trump earlier said that during the meeting he would bring up arms sales to Taiwan as well as imprisoned Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, while Beijing has said the two leaders would discuss "major issues concerning China-US relations, world peace, and development."

The US president has also said that he would make his "very first request" to Xi to "open up" China to American business.

Trump is accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with numerous CEOs of major US companies, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Tesla’s Elon Musk.

Other executives accompanying Trump include Apple's Tim Cook, BlackRock's Larry Fink, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman, Boeing's Kelly Ortberg, Cargill's Brian Sikes, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, GE Aerospace's Larry Culp, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra and Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon.

Trump's son and daughter-in-law, Eric Trump and Lara Trump, are also accompanying the president, while first lady Melania Trump is not among the long list of visitors.

The visit is the first visit by a US president to China since 2017, by Trump himself, in his first term, while President Joe Biden did not visit China during his intervening term.

The visit comes amid the Middle East conflict, triggered after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, prompting retaliation against Israel and US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting international trade, especially of oil.