The US-China summit is “extremely important” to arrest the downward spiral of relations between the two countries, according to Li Cheng, a leading Chinese academic.

But a summit would not be enough to change the overall structure of ties, which had been fraught for years, Li said on Thursday as US President Donald Trump began the first full day of his state visit to Beijing – the first by an American leader since 2017.

The two presidents began the day with two hours of talks at the Great Hall of the People, where Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged the two countries to be “partners, not rivals”.

Citing the “Thucydides Trap”, Xi called on both two countries to bear responsibility to manage their ties.

“Can China and the US transcend the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm for major power relations? Can they work together to address global challenges and inject more stability into the world? Can they focus on the well-being of both peoples and the future destiny of humanity to jointly create a bright future for bilateral relations?” Xi said.

The meeting is one of several Xi and Trump are expected to have this year – a year that Beijing has said will be a big one for US-China relations.