The meeting may have been delayed but when the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump took place on Thursday, it yielded a forward-looking agreement.
Sitting down for talks at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, the two leaders agreed to make stability a key goal of relations over the next three years – and beyond, according to state media.
Trump also invited Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan to visit the White House, setting the date for September 24.
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The common ground marked a reset in relations within a new framework.
“I have agreed with President Trump on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
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This framework should extend for the next three years or even longer, Xi said, while also warning that Taiwan would be the main obstacle to the envisioned stability.
“If [the Taiwan issue] is handled well, bilateral relations can remain stable, if it is messed up, the two countries will have frictions or even confrontation and draw China-US relations to a dangerous place … The US side must handle the Taiwan issue with great caution,” Xi was quoted as saying.