Xi Jinping said the US and China should avoid being drawn into a “conflict” in remarks at the White House alongside US President Donald Trump as the Chinese leader began his first visit to Washington in more than a decade. Speaking at the White House arrival ceremony, Xi said the countries should “coexist in peace” as he prepared to hold talks with Trump that were expected to include discussion about US and Chinese policy towards Taiwan. “China and the United States . . . stand to gain from co-operation and will both lose in confrontation,” Xi said.

In welcoming Xi four months after his own visit to Beijing, Trump said the two leaders had “made tremendous strides” working together, including trying to create a “more balanced trading relationship”. The US president said they would discuss security, technology and “super intelligence” — his newly coined term for AI. On Wednesday, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the countries had agreed to extend the trade war truce — reached in Busan, South Korea, last year — by two months until January 10.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and this weekend: Tencent has launched a new payments app targeting foreign visitors to China, called Ten Pay Go. Pakistan: Imran Khan’s political movement has announced mass protests to begin on Sunday to demand the former prime minister’s release from prison.