Historical contacts between leaders of China and U.S

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on January 1, 1979, the China-U.S. relationship has been moving forward steadily despite some twists and turns. In January 1979, then Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S., opening a new page in China-U.S. relations. 

Among the U.S. presidents who have traveled to China, George W. Bush, the son of George W.H. Bush and the 43rd U.S. president, visited China the most.

In recent years, high-level exchanges of visits have been frequent between the two countries.

Jiang Zemin and George W. Bush are at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, October 2001. /Photo from china-embassy.org 

In November 2009, then U.S. President Barack Obama paid a state visit to China, while Chinese President Hu Jintao reciprocated the gesture in a state visit to the U.S. in 2011. Both sides issued joint statements during the visits.

They also made the strategic decision to work together to build a China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, charting the direction of China-U.S. relations. In June 2013, three months after he took over the Chinese presidency, Xi Jinping traveled to the U.S. state of California and held a no-necktie summit with Obama.

Xi's second trip to the country as head of state came in 2015, when he arrived in Seattle for his first state visit to the U.S.

In November 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump visited China, also his first visit to the country since he assumed the presidency in January.

The recent meeting between the pair took place at a working dinner in Argentina during the G20 summit on December 1, 2018.