Washington, May 28 (IANS) China has said President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing early this month had produced progress on tariffs, trade mechanisms and educational exchanges, even as tensions persist over Taiwan and technology restrictions.

China’s Deputy Ambassador to the United States, Qui Wenxing, on Wednesday (local time) described the recent summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping as “historic and successful”.

Qui said Beijing believed the summit marked “a significant step towards the establishment of the right path of getting along between China and the US in the new era”.

He framed the summit around three themes -- “mutual respect”, “strategic stability” and “win-win results”.

“China and the US are two great nations,” Qui told a group of reporters. “President Xi and President Trump actually, they respect each other and have maintained close communications.”

He added that Beijing believed “achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America greater again can go hand in hand”.

According to Qui, the two leaders agreed to pursue “a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability”, which he said would guide bilateral ties “over the next three years and beyond”.

“We believe that cooperation is the mainstay,” he said. “Of course, there is competition in the field of economic and trade areas, but we cannot define this relationship with competition.”

Qui said China opposed viewing bilateral ties through a “zero-sum game” approach and called for differences to be managed “in a constructive manner”.

“We do want to do everything we can to avoid any conflict and confrontation between us, because conflict and confrontation will produce consequences no one can bear,” he said.

The deputy ambassador rejected criticism that the summit had failed to deliver concrete outcomes.

“Actually, this summit has produced many tangible and concrete results,” Qui said.

He listed several economic understandings reached during the talks, including discussions on reciprocal tariff reductions involving products valued at “30 billion US dollars or even more on each side”.

Qui said the two governments had also agreed to establish intergovernmental trade and investment councils, work on resolving non-tariff barriers and market access issues, and study ways to address supply chain concerns involving rare earth minerals and critical materials.

He added that China had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft and said there remained “potential for Chinese companies to buy more if conditions are right”.

On educational exchanges, Qui highlighted President Xi’s initiative to invite 50,000 American students to study or travel in China over five years.

The Chinese diplomat also said Beijing and Washington had agreed to support each other in hosting upcoming international summits, including APEC and the G20.

Qui confirmed that Xi had accepted Trump’s invitation to visit the United States this autumn, although dates had not yet been finalised.

The latest Trump-Xi summit came amid continuing friction between Washington and Beijing over tariffs, technology restrictions, Taiwan and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region. Despite those disputes, both governments have recently signalled interest in maintaining high-level engagement and preventing further deterioration in ties.

--IANS

lkj/sd/