Xinhua published on Sept. 26 the Chinese readout from the Sept. 23-25 conversations between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump, reporting that they had “reached eight deliverables and understandings.”
It is noteworthy that the first two points on the Chinese list coincide with the emphasis provided by the White House Fact Sheet issued late on Sept. 25:
“1. The two sides agree to build ‘a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity.’ 2. China and the United States support each other in successfully hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and the G20 Summit. The two heads of state intend to attend each other’s meetings.”
Western media, led by the ubiquitous studied cynicism in the British press, interpreted this as indicating that “It is striking how little of consequence has emerged from the summit,” and that the summit was “a show of friendship, but no real attempt to address the tensions,” in the words of an editorial in the Guardian
China’s government and state media in general viewed the glass as half-full—and then some. A Sept. 25 editorial in Global Times emphasized that “China and the US should cherish the favorable conditions created by head-of-state diplomacy to advance cooperative initiatives one by one and resolve specific issues individually… How the two nations translate this new positioning into concrete action is a matter of keen interest to the outside world and a key expectation of the international community regarding this meeting… During the meeting on September 24, President Xi profoundly noted that China and the US should, and fully can, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results through practical cooperation.”
The remaining points in the Chinese readout were also noted in the White House Fact sheet, albeit with different language: 3) “Iran should honor its commitment to not developing nuclear weapons, and no country or institution can be allowed to impose tolls on international waterways… 4) China and the U.S. were allies in World War II… 5) Establishing and taking forward the Board of Trade” to work on “reciprocal tariff reduction"… 6) “Cooperation between the counter-narcotics and law enforcement agencies… 7) The establishment of the China-U.S. AI Dialogue.. 8. The arrival of two giant pandas, leased by China to Zoo Atlanta.”
China’s readout added that “the Chinese and U.S. militaries agree to conclude a memorandum of understanding on crisis communication and prevention as soon as possible,” and significantly made no mention whatsoever of the White House report that “The President advocated for trilateral arms control negotiations between the United States, Russia, and China,” suggesting that this remains a non-starter, as far as the Chinese are concerned. As recently as February 2026, when the bilateral Russian-American New START on strategic arms ran out and the Trump Administration refused to extend it, but Marco Rubio again called for China to join trilateral talks instead, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded: “China’s nuclear forces are not in the same league as those of the US and Russia. It is neither fair, reasonable, nor realistic to ask China to join the nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage,” said Mao.
Also to be noted is that neither side’s readout made any mention of the issue of Taiwan, despite the fact that, as a the Sept. 25 Global Times editorial noted: “The US needs to genuinely respect China’s core interests and major concerns. The Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive core issue in China-US relations.”
