Chinese media send unified message highlighting leader’s ‘warm welcome’ in US in Xi-Biden summit coverage

Reports play up personal interactions between President Xi Jinping and American counterpart Joe Biden, as well as remarks on Taiwan and bilateral ties

State news outlets underscore Beijing’s efforts to improve strained US-China relations but ignore protests near Apec summit in San Francisco

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and US President Joe Biden stroll through the gardens at the Filoli estate in Woodside, California on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:01pm, 16 Nov 2023Updated: 7:15pm, 16 Nov 2023

In its coverage of heavyweight talks between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, Chinese media highlighted the hospitality and respect the American side showed towards Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades.

When Xi arrived at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday for a summit with Biden, their first face-to-face talks in a year, he was “warmly welcomed” by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, California Governor Gavin Newsom and other American officials, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed around a dozen US officials quietly waiting before Xi exited an Air China plane and waved from the steps.

Greeted by Newsom and other representatives, Xi recalled his previous trip to San Francisco 38 years ago, when he was party chief of Zhengding county in the northern province of Hebei.

Xi Jinping poses in front of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in 1985, when he was Communist Party chief of Zhengding county in northern China’s Hebei province. Photo: Xinhua

Biden later played up that personal detail. After a four-hour talk with the Chinese leader and his delegation, a beaming Biden held up his phone to display a photo of Xi in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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