Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shake hands and depart after meeting in South Korea – live updates | China

Away from the Busan talks a lot of attention is also on Donald Trump’s announcement just before the meeting that he has ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing at the same level as China and Russia.

It came after Russia’s Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow had successfully tested its Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo in defiance of US warnings.

As reported earlier, Trump posted on social media less than an hour before meeting Xi that Russia had the second-biggest nuclear arsenal after the US and that China was “a distant third”.

The US president’s post said:

Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.

As our full report on Trump’s threat says, the US last held a full nuclear weapons test in 1992, and China and Russia are not known to have held any such tests since the same era.

Trump’s reference to “on an equal basis” left it unclear what weapons testing could take place, or whether he was referring to displays of power similar to those recently conducted by Russia.

The full report by Abené Clayton and Pjotr Sauer is here:

Donald Trump has been seen getting aboard his presidential aircraft Air Force One, without talking to reporters.

Neither he nor Xi have made any public comment yet on their meeting.

Helen Davidson

Helen Davidson has given us an updated list of who was took part in the talks:

Xi Jinping was flanked by his foreign minister Wang Yi and senior advisor Cai Qi (a high-ranking politburo member who is essentially Xi’s chief of staff). Closest to the cameras is vice-minister of foreign affairs Ma Zhaoxu, then He Lifeng, the vice premier of China. At the far end of the table is the chair of China’s main planning agency, Zheng Shanjie, and Wang Wengtao the minister of commerce.

On the US side, Trump has brought secretary of state Marco Rubio, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, trade representative Jamieson Greer, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, US ambassador to China David Purdue and the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

We’re seeing live footage of Trump and Xi leaving the negotiations building after shaking hands.

Xi has gotten into a limousine and it is being driven away.

The meeting reportedly lasted one hour and 40 minutes.

Chinese state media is saying the Trump-Xi meeting has finished.

While the two leaders hold their talks, our correspondent in Busan, Justin McCurry, has pieced together what we have seen so far, following their initial greeting and then the opening exchanges once seated with their delegations.

Chinese shares climbed to a decade high as Trump and Xi began their meeting.

Investors appeared heartened by early signs of cooling tensions between the world’s top two economies after recent escalations, while also positioning defensively with a sense of deja vu that the real deal may offer far less to celebrate, Reuters reported.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index reversed early losses, rising as much as 0.2% to 4,025.70 in morning trading, reaching its highest since 2015, driven by hopes for de-escalation in the US-China trade dispute.

Banking, insurance and liquor sectors led gains as sentiment remained cautious.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6% after resuming trade following a holiday on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s foreign minister has said it is “confident” in its relations with the US amid the Trump-Xi talks.

Lin Chia-lung – asked by reporters about the meeting and whether Taiwan could come up – said the government was “of course” paying attention to the talks.

Taiwan and the US had close cooperation on security and other matters, he said in Taipei.

“So we have confidence in Taiwan-US relations and have close communication channels,” Lin added, quoted by Reuters.

Taiwan’s democratically elected government rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.

Since taking office this year, Trump has vacillated on his position towards Taiwan while pursuing a trade deal with Beijing. The US president says Xi Jinping has told him he will not invade while Trump is in office, but Trump has yet to approve any new US arms sales to Taipei.

Helen Davidson

Both leaders have brought a high-level entourage with them for the talks.

Xi is flanked by his foreign minister Wang Yi and senior advisor Cai Qi (a high-ranking politburo member who is essentially Xi’s chief of staff). Closest to the cameras is He Lifeng, the vice premier of China. At the far end of the table is the chair of China’s main planning agency, Zheng Shanjie, and vice-minister of foreign affairs Ma Zhaoxu.

On the US side, Trump has brought secretary of state Marco Rubio, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, trade representative Jamieson Greer, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, US ambassador to China David Purdue and the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

The US will make an announcement that will be a “resounding victory” for its farmers after the Trump-Xi meeting, the US Treasury secretary posted on X on Thursday in the lead-up to the talks.

Scott Bessent said earlier this month he anticipated China would restart substantial buying of US soybeans.

America’s soybean farmers have been stuck in the middle of the trade war between the US and China, the biggest purchaser of American soybean exports, used to feed China’s pigs. Donald Trump’s tariffs prompted the country to exit the soybean market and US midwestern farmers have been waiting on a solution, as you can read in this feature from Rachel Leingang of the Guardian US.

It details how no other country comes close to purchasing as many American soybeans as China – last year, it was more than $12bn worth. This year, the country has not purchased a single dollar’s worth, cutting off the country that makes up about half of US soybean exports.

While Trump has said he intends some sort of payment to go to soybean farmers hurt by tariffs, an announcement of a specific plan is on hold while the government is shut down. He said in a recent Truth Social post that at his Xi meeting “soybeans will be a major topic of discussion”.