China confirms dates for President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing

US President Donald Trump will pay a China" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="125051" data-entity-type="event">state visit to China from May 13 to 15, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, the foreign ministry in Beijing said on Monday.It will be the first visit to China by a US president in almost nine years and comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries over a range of issues.It also coincides with the fragile US-Iran ceasefire and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which is pushing up energy costs and weighing on the global economy.Earlier, on Sunday, US principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump would arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening for what she described as a “visit of tremendous symbolic significance”.According to Kelly, the US leader will attend a welcome ceremony and a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping on Thursday, followed by a visit to the Temple of Heaven and a state banquet.The two leaders will meet again on Friday for a bilateral tea and working lunch, she said, adding that the US planned to host the Chinese leader for a reciprocal visit later this year.Both sides announced on Sunday that Vice-Premier He Lifeng will travel to South Korea for trade talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on May 12 and 13 in the final round of negotiations before Trump’s visit.