PRESIDENTS Xi Jinping and Donald Trump ended their talks today, claiming important progress in stabilising China-US relations.

This comes as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran, Taiwan and more.

Mr Xi welcomed Mr Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, today for the final talks of the summit before the US leader completed his three-day visit to China.

“It’s been really a great couple of days,” Mr Trump told reporters as he sat with Mr Xi before the start of their meeting with aides.

Mr Xi called the visit a “milestone.”

He said: “We have established a new bilateral relationship, or rather a constructive, strategic, stable relationship.”

But the optimistic outlook collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has refused pleas from the US to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help.

In recent weeks, the US State Department has accused Chinese firms of providing satellite imagery to the Iranian government and the US Treasury Department has moved to target Chinese oil refineries accused of buying oil from Tehran, as well as shippers of the oil.

The White House believes China can still do more to stem the flow of Chinese-made precursor chemicals into Mexico used to make illicit fentanyl that has wreaked havoc on many US communities.

Mr Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could lurch the world’s dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

Mr Xi’s sharp language on China’s breakaway province of Taiwan loomed large over the visit, with Chinese government officials amplifying that differences on the island pose the biggest risk to Chinese-US relations.

China has always emphasised that Taiwan is a domestic issue that should not be interfered in by any outside entity. It has been clear that Taiwan is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the US.

The leaders agreed that the Strait of Hormuz, effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict, needs to be reopened to support global energy demands.

About 20 per cent of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the US and Israel began their illegal and unprovoked war on Iran on February 28.