Chinese President Xi Jinping greeted President Donald Trump on Thursday with a welcome ceremony featuring the usual pomp and circumstance for a diplomatic visit by an important world leader. Upon his arrival at China’s Great Hall of the People near Tiananmen Square, the president was met with Chinese children waving flowers and flags of both countries, as were members of China’s People’s Liberation Army. It was a continuation of Wednesday’s festive welcome for the United States president and delegation after landing at Beijing Capital International Airport.
Chinese students welcome President Trump to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing 💐
🎥: @MargoMartin47 pic.twitter.com/wChlpVnphh— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 14, 2026 Recommended Stories
Trump, Cabinet members including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and tech titans Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were greeted by Xi and other Chinese officials. The People’s Liberation Army band played the Star-Spangled Banner as Trump and Xi observed at the Great Hall of the People. Trump saluted as the U.S. national anthem was played.
Later, Trump walked Xi to the U.S. delegation and introduced the Chinese president to them and they exchanged handshakes. While standing next to each other and addressing a group of reporters, Trump was very complimentary about the Chinese president and his country.
“It’s great, a great place,” Trump said to the media. “China is beautiful.”
After the welcome ceremony, both delegations headed inside to the Great Hall of the People to begin their summit and high-stakes conversations. Before the summit’s important topics were discussed, Trump expressed his gratitude for the festive welcome, calling it “an honor few have ever seen before.”
“President Xi, I want to thank you very much,” Trump said. “First of all, that was an honor like few have ever seen before, and I think I was particularly impressed by those children, they were happy, they were beautiful. The military is obvious, they couldn’t be better but those children were amazing and they represent so much, and I know they represent so much to you.”
