The Latest: China’s Xi to kick off visit to Washington with a rare planeside welcome from Trump
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8:19 AM on Wednesday, September 23
By The Associated Press
When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, he’s expected to get a rare greeting from President Donald Trump, who'll be on the tarmac to welcome his counterpart’s plane instead of waiting for him to drive up to the White House. Trump’s decision to greet Xi shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China’s leader as he makes his first state visit in more than a decade.
Also, Trump’s AI-fueled vision for a drone port he intends to install atop the new White House ballroom includes missile-bearing unmanned aerial vehicles and gun-toting troops. But what hasn't been previously reported is the presence of a drone port a few hundred feet away, run by the U.S. Secret Service and not the military, which is already quietly operational.
Here's the latest:
It’s called Imperia — and the first lady says it’s her new initiative focused on helping women become leaders and achieve economic power.
Members include CEOs, founders, innovators, entrepreneurs and others, she said during an in-studio interview in New York on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”
Asked what the initiative will achieve, the first lady, who’s also a businesswoman, cited innovation and investment, strategic partnerships and economic prosperity for woman.
Melania Trump also rang the opening bell for New York Stock Exchange in January before the release of her Amazon documentary, “Melania.”
“He’s coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect,” she said of Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, during an interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s ”Fox & Friends.”
U.S. futures are slightly higher and hovering near record highs while oil prices declined after President Trump said officials from the United States and Iran met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both gained 0.1% on Wednesday. Nasdaq futures were basically flat.
Trump talked of the meeting with Iran after telling the assembly Tuesday that he would have to make a choice, including whether to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic, if the sides fail to reach an agreement.
As China’s Xi Jinping arrives in Washington to meet with President Trump, Taiwan expressed confidence that U.S. arms sales to the island that Beijing claims as its own will continue — despite China’s pressure.
China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.
Still, the U.S. government and Congress have “repeatedly expressed support for Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,” Taiwanese Defense Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Chiao Fu-chun told reporters in the southern city of Tainan.
Trump’s AI-fueled vision for a drone port he intends to install atop the new White House ballroom includes missile-bearing unmanned aerial vehicles and gun-toting troops, ostensibly to protect the 18-acre complex and the nation’s capital.
A few hundred feet away, a drone port, run by the U.S. Secret Service and not the military, is already quietly operational. Equipped with cameras and sensors to scope out potential threats from a bird’s-eye view, the small UAVs stand on alert in four gray weatherproof boxes until deployed at officers’ commands.
The agency is using a model known as “drone as first responder,” deploying speedy unarmed drones from outdoor stations to serve as flying cameras. That model has been adopted by hundreds of police agencies across the U.S., often powered by AI software to help dodge obstacles or track targets.
The existence of the surveillance drones on a Treasury Department building adjacent to the White House complex has not been previously reported, and could undercut Trump’s legal claims that the ballroom construction is necessary “to protect the White House and surrounding region from aerial attacks.”
Xi has departed Beijing on Wednesday afternoon local time for a state visit to the U.S., China’s official news agency Xinhua said. Accompanying him on the visit are Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan, China’s ruling Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, it said.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, he’s expected to get a rare greeting from President Donald Trump, who will be on the tarmac to welcome his counterpart’s plane instead of waiting for him to drive up to the White House.
Trump’s decision to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China’s leader as he makes his first state visit in more than a decade.
The White House hasn't released many details about Wednesday’s greeting, but Trump is expected to participate in an arrival ceremony at the base with Xi and his wife. The salutation will kick off a three-day visit that’s expected to be saturated with pomp, even by White House standards. The state visit, complete with a formal state dinner at the White House on Thursday, is supposed to reciprocate for the ceremonial grandeur that marked Trump’s May visit to China.
But it’s also a showy patina at a time when tensions between the two geopolitical rivals are high over trade, artificial intelligence, Trump’s war with Iran and China’s designs on Taiwan.
