Xi-Trump Summit lauded by US observer ​

Observers keeping tabs on the Florida meetings between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are suggesting both leaders are likely going to be satisfied with the way things went in Palm Beach.

Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, pledged on Friday to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and to manage their differences based on mutual respect. The two leaders agreed that their first meeting was "positive and fruitful." 

Following the presidential summit, Stephen Orlins, President of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, said that it's quite positive that President Xi Jinping and President Trump have gained better understanding of each other and achieved concrete goals through the summit. 

"I think they achieved both goals. In fact, they performed beyond expectations. I think they certainly build this relationship, I mean, President Trump spoke about it very enthusiastically, characterizing the relationship as outstanding, and he's pretty straight forward and frank. So that's one thing. And it sounds like that we are getting some fairly good concrete results out of this, and I think we are going to hear more positive on jobs, on investment, on trade, so there will be more specific outcomes that are still to come," Stephen said.

Stephan Orlins made his remarks during a panel discussion held Friday afternoon. He suggests now that the two presidents have made direct personal contact, they now have a better idea about the other, which should help manage their differences based on mutual respect.

"I think the presidential summits are very important, because it builds this relationship, both helping this US-China relationship and then in case there is a crisis, they know each other and they can deal with the crisis. In my experience, and this has been going on now for a long time, the leader of China and the leader of United States talk to each other, they develop a relationship based upon the complexity of each of their jobs," Stephan suggested.

Stephen Orlins also mentioned that President Trump has accepted President Xi Jinping's invitation to visit China within this year, saying that it would be another step forward to build a constructive US-China relationship.

"President Trump's decision to acceptance to President Xi's invitation to visit China is very positive. I think when American Presidents go to China, they tend to understand much more what China is about and formulate policies which are more constructive. We will hear about a new procedural framework for US-China relationship, which is positive," Stephan noted.

The observer also reiterated that in order to boost the bilateral ties between US and China, it is very important to enhance people-to-people exchange. 

Stephen Orlins points to a number of concrete examples, noting there are currently 325,000 Chinese students in the United States, 46 billion US dollars invested by Chinese companies in America last year, and 141,000 Americans receiving their pay cheques from Chinese companies. 

In every way, as he says, the people-to-people relationships between the US and China are going to strengthen.