President Xi Jinping has called for China and Vietnam to boost bilateral cooperation as he received Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, who ranks second in Vietnam after Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Tran is on his first visit to China since taking office in April 2016. Xi said that the two countries’ relations had maintained a positive momentum over the last six months. Quang praised China’s economic reforms, and called for the two parties and countries to cooperate more on trade, agriculture, tourism, security, infrastructure and cultural exchanges. The two leaders witnessed the signing of five agreements, including on additional funding for a light-rail transit project in Hanoi. China and Vietnam remain at odds over the sovereignty of islands in the South China Sea.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen of Denmark agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as fishing, agriculture, food safety and drug regulations in a new collaborative work plan for the next three years. China and Denmark established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2008. Both Premiers also observed the signing of six documents: on food and drug regulations, quarantine and sanitary requirements and giant panda protection, among others. They agreed to promote free trade and globalization in the upcoming China-EU Leaders’Meeting. 2017 is the year of tourism between China and Denmark, the first such activity between Chine and an EU country.

China and the European Union should jointly press ahead with economic globalization and free and fair trade, Premier Li Keqiang said as he met with Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Li said China supports European integration and expects the EU to remain united, stable and prosperous. China and the EU held their seventh round of high level strategic dialogue in Beijing. State Councilor Yang Jiechi co-chaired the talks with Mogherini. The meeting laid the groundwork for the 19thEU-China Summit in Brussels this June. Mogherini said Xi’s speeches raised high expectations that China and the European Union can work together on multilateralism, rules-based global order and trade.State Councilor Yang Jiechi said the Chinese side continued to challenge the EU over its refusal to grant the nation market economy status, which Beijing argues is required under the terms of its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that he will attend the Belt and Road Forum for international cooperation in Beijing on May 14 and 15. China views Russia as an important partner among Belt and Road countries. Putin hailed the rapid growth of the two-way trade volume since last year and said the bilateral trade structure has improved. Zhang was in Moscow for the fourth meeting of the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee and the meeting with the Russian Chair of the China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in the first face-to-face contact between the two leaders. summit’s success was more than just symbolic. Xi said he and Trump “reached important consensus on the development of China-U.S. relations”, according to a news release issued by China’s Foreign Ministry. It achieved tangible outcomes – an action plan to address frictions over trade, an elevation of bilateral talks to be overseen by the two Presidents, a dialogue mechanism between the Chiefs of Staff, and Trump’s acceptance of an invitation to visit China this year. However, the summit was overshadowed by the U.S. Navy’s firing of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria at around the same time Trump and Xi were sitting down for a state dinner. But perhaps the most significant result of the first face-to-face Trump-Xi meeting was the personal rapport between them and the talk of them becoming friends. Such a relationship would help in problem-solving and in preventing saber-rattling between the two countries, analysts said. Xi was more reserved, saying he and Trump had built “a good working relationship” after gaining a better understanding of each other, enhancing trust and reaching consensus on multiple issues. Trump hailed the meetings as producing “tremendous progress in our relationship with China” and said he believed “lots of very potentially bad problems” would be “going away”. For his part, Xi said the summit was of unique significance to bilateral ties after describing the meetings as “positive and fruitful”.

Trump and Xi have agreed to a bold 100-day action plan for trade talks to boost U.S. exports and reduce its trade deficit with China. Analysts said the big questions are whether Trump can assemble the right trade team to negotiate with Beijing and whether the deal is just a smoke screen to mask the lack of progress with China over trade. Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute, said the 100-day plan was “at best aspirational, at worst just something to satisfy Trump’s core supporters and make him look strong on China”, the South China Morning Post reports.