Xi Warns Trump Mishandling Taiwan Could Spark Clashes And Conflicts In Beijing Summit

President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for a high-stakes summit that included a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People at Tiananmen Square, after talks that lasted about two hours.

Xi warned that mishandling Taiwan could spark “clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” and NBC News said there was no mention of Taiwan in the American readout.

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Xi also hailed the US-China relationship as the world’s “most important,” while Trump called his visit a “great honour” and invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House in September.

On the agenda, the future of Taiwan—claimed by China and a major source of tension between Beijing and Washington—was central, with China’s foreign ministry warning of “clashes and even conflicts” if the situation isn’t handled “properly.”

At the state banquet, Trump described the meeting as “extremely positive” in a toast and invited Xi to the U.S. later this year, while Xi said the China-U.S. relationship was the world’s “most important bilateral relationship in the world.”

NBC News reported that Trump discussed the Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz with Xi, and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News the United States was not asking for China’s help with Iran.

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In a separate CNBC interview, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. and China were coordinating on AI safety and that “We're going to set up a protocol in terms of how do we go forward with best practices for AI to make sure non state actors don't get a hold of these models,” while the Guardian reported Bessent predicted oil prices would come “trundling” down.

The Guardian also quoted Xi warning that if Taiwan is handled poorly, “the two countries will clash or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a very dangerous place,” as the summit’s toasts and talks continued around trade and regional issues.

NBC News said the banquet followed a high-stakes meeting between Trump and Xi that lasted for about two hours and 15 minutes, and it reported that the two leaders would meet again tomorrow.

The BBC said China’s foreign ministry warned of “clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy” if Taiwan isn’t handled “properly,” placing the Taiwan agenda at the center of what both sides carry forward.

The Guardian reported that the White House described the meeting as “good” and that Trump and Xi “highlighted the need to build on progress in ending the flow of fentanyl precursors into the United States,” while also increasing Chinese purchases of American agricultural products.

As the summit continued, CNBC said Xi asked whether the U.S. and China could avoid the “Thucydides Trap,” and it quoted Xi saying Taiwan was the most important issue for U.S.-China relations and that mishandling it would push the relationship to a “dangerous” place.