Trump greets China’s Xi in rare airport welcome to kick off three-day state visit

JOINT BASE ANDREWS - Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plane landed in the United States on Sept 23 US time ahead of a high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump, who was waiting at the airport to greet his counterpart.Xi’s plane, with the words “Air China” on the side, touched down and taxied to a stop at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, near Washington, kicking off a three-day state visit filled with pomp and ceremony.Trump is laying on extraordinary levels of pomp for Xi’s first state visit to the White House in over a decade, including a lavish state banquet, military flyover and 21-gun salute.The spectacle underscores Trump’s desire to maintain a fragile diplomatic and trade truce between the rival superpowers – although no breakthroughs are expected on any of the key issues.In a highly unusual move for a US president, Trump and his wife Melania travelled to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland near Washington to personally welcome Xi on the tarmac at 6pm local time (6am Sept 24 in Singapore).Tellingly, Xi did not afford Trump the same courtesy for the US president’s state visit to Beijing in May. Instead, Trump was greeted at the airport by China’s vice-president.Trump will hold a formal welcome ceremony for Xi at the White House on Sept 24 including a flyover of F-22 fighters and a B-2 bomber, followed by talks in the Oval Office and a state dinner. AFP