U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed confidence in the bright future of U.S.-China relations when holding talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

In his opening remarks of the talks, Trump said, "You and I have known each other now for a long time, in fact, the longest relationship of our two countries that any president and president has had, and that's, to me, an honor. We've had a fantastic relationship. We've gotten along. When there were difficulties, we worked it out.

I would call you and you would call me. And whenever we had a problem -- people don't know -- whenever we had a problem, we worked that out very quickly, and we're going to have a fantastic future together. Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I'd say it to everybody, you're a great leader."

"So I really look very much forward to our discussion. It's a big discussion. There are those that say this is maybe the biggest summit ever. They can never remember anything like it. I can say in the United States, people aren't talking about anything else. But it's an honor to be with you. It's an honor to be your friend. And the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before. Thank you very much. Thank you," he said.

At the invitation of Xi, Trump is on a state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday. This is the first U.S. presidential visit to China in almost nine years, after President Xi previously hosted Trump in Beijing in November 2017.

Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Trump outside the Great Hall of the People.