At Thursday evening’s state banquet at the Great Hall of the People, President Trump devoted his prepared remarks to a special relationship between the American and Chinese peoples stretching back to 1784. He catalogued nearly two and a half centuries of cultural and political ties—Benjamin Franklin publishing Confucius in his newspaper, a Confucius sculpture on the face of the U.S. Supreme Court, Chinese workers building the transcontinental railroad, Theodore Roosevelt funding President Xi’s alma mater Tsinghua University, and the World War II alliance—and called the resulting relationship “one of the most consequential in world history.”
“The relationship between the American and Chinese people goes all the way back to America’s founding,” he said. “The first American Consul to China, Samuel Shaw, arrived on the first American trading ship to reach these shores in 1784. The Chinese merchants had a name for the Americans: they called their visitors the new people. Two and a half centuries later, that first connection has grown into one of the most consequential relationships in world history.”
“From the beginning, our citizens have shared a deep sense of mutual respect. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin published the sayings of Confucius in his colonial newspaper. And today, a sculpture recognizing that ancient Chinese sage is carved into the face of the United States Supreme Court, very proudly.”
“The appreciation ran in both directions. Chinese admirers of President George Washington gifted a stone tablet honoring his memory to adorn the Washington Monument. It bears the words of a Chinese official who called the great general and statesman ‘a hero among men.'