The highly anticipated U.S.-China summit has been upstaged, however, by U.S. missile strikes overnight against a Syrian air base from which Trump said a deadly chemical weapon attack had been launched. It was the first direct U.S. assault on the Russian-backed government of Bashar al-Assad in six years of civil war.
The swift action in Syria could be interpreted as a signal especially to defiant nuclear-armed North Korea—and by extension, its ally China—as well as other countries like Iran and Russia of Trump’s willingness to use military force if deemed necessary.
U.S. security concerns with China also focus on Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the strategic South China Sea.
A senior administration official said Trump informed Xi about the strikes as their dinner concluded on Thursday night. Trump then made a televised statement on the operation he said he ordered in retaliation for the poison gas attack, which killed scores of people, including children, in a rebel-held area on Tuesday.
In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry urged all parties in Syria to find a political settlement.
Trump and Xi, politicians with distinctly different styles and experience levels, appeared cordial and businesslike in their initial interactions, with no outward sign of tensions.
The protocol-conscious Chinese earlier had privately expressed concerns that the unpredictable Trump might publicly embarrass the veteran Communist Party chief.
