From Nixon visiting during the Cold War to Clinton navigating the optics of being welcomed in Tiananmen Square, presidential trips to China have always been fraught.

The greeter upgrade this time around for Donald Trump's China visit signifies a major shift in how Xi Jinping is perceiving his meeting with the American president.

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have “agreed to establish a ‘constructive, strategic and stable relationship between China and the US’ as a new positioning for China-US relations”.