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Keira Huang

Nectar Gan

Kristine Kwok

Capped by a 21-gun salute and a dinner at the White House, President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the US was hailed in China as a great success.
The trip was given blanket positive coverage in state media, with wall-to-wall articles and stories burnishing Xi's image as an international leader.
But while there were some signs of easing in various bilateral tensions, analysts said the ultimate value of the trip would depend on how Xi and his American counterpart Barack Obama follow through with action.
And there were reasons to be sceptical, they said, with mistrust lingering between the world's two most powerful countries.
For Beijing, the trip's success can be gauged by the symbolism and the degree of respect the United States gave the visiting president.
"And by receiving one of the only nine state dinners that President Obama has hosted in this two terms in office, the Chinese achieved that," said Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre in Beijing.

But for Washington, the assessment is more complex - it is measured less by optics more and by progress on pledges on major issues.
"Each of these speeches and statements, they need to be followed up by some actions, that's true on both sides," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Throughout the trip, Xi repeatedly sought to reassure the business and diplomatic communities about two of the biggest thorns in the Sino-US relationship - cybersecurity and market access.
He pledged publicly that China would push on with economic reform, and that it would punish any Chinese entity engaged in commercial cybertheft.
Each of these speeches and statements, they need to be followed up by some actions, that's true on both sides
Kenneth Lieberthal, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
He also sought to address most of the other key issues - from the South China Sea to China's treatment of nongovernmental organisations - in his public statements.
A commitment on cybersecurity came after previous negotiations on the issue had been suspended for more than a year. Now the two sides have agreed to launch a higher level biannual dialogue to combat commercial cybertheft. Beijing will designate a ministerial-level official to lead its delegation and the participants will come from the ministries of public security, state security and justice, as well as the State Internet and Information Office.
Read more: Full coverage of Xi's US trip
The two presidents also said both sides had agreed to cooperate with requests for information and help to investigate malicious cyberactivity from their territory.
"I think what is significant here is that we agreed to have a mechanism both for registering complaints or we take a breach," Lieberthal said.
But he also said a productive outcome was a distant goal, given the number of challenges in the way. "The technology in the cyber realm is advancing more rapidly than anyone can keep up with," he said.
Another much touted deal was China's agreement to begin a market-based cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse emissions.
But that was overshadowed by the lack of progress on a bilateral investment treaty.
Shi Yinhong, a professor with Renmin University in Beijing, said the failure to reach a deal on a treaty was a major disappointment of Xi's trip.
"The Chinese government was really eager to nail this treaty," Shi said.

Instead, Obama said, the two countries agreed to "step up our work toward a high-standard bilateral investment treaty", which would help create a level playing field for US companies.
Xi said he and Obama agreed to "vigorously push forward" the negotiation for the bilateral investment treaty.
So what will be the legacy of the trip in the eyes of the American public?
Shi said an international audience's perception of China rested on what the country did rather than what it said.
"[The question is] will Xi become a very peaceful, very nice Chinese leader? The world is still worried about China's economy, and China would probably remain assertive towards its neighbours and the US," Shi said.
Xi's trip was crowded out of media coverage by other events such as Pope Francis' visit and John Boehner's resignation as the speaker of the US House of Representatives.
"So all that means that as President Xi left town, it isn't that there was a lot of discussion of what this visit means to the future of US-China relations," Lieberthal said.

China's monetary pledges

US$1.1billion to support UN and African Union peacekeeping efforts
An initial US$2 billion for meeting post-2015 global development goals
US$10 million to the UN agency promoting women’s rights
US$3.1billion to help developing countries combat climate change
China will exempt the debt on outstanding intergovernmental interest-free loans due by the end of 2015 owed by various least-developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing countries



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President Xi Jinping steps out from behind a Chinese flag as he takes his position for his joint news conference with President Barack Obama. Photo: AP

US President Barack Obama

For Beijing, the trip's success can be gauged by its symbolism. Photo: Xinhua 

US President Barack Obama, President Xi Jinping, Michelle Obama and Peng Liyuan, stand for photographs on the North Portico of the White House before a state dinner. Photo: Bloomberg

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China

Diplomacy

The value of the president's visit rests on how both countries realise promises
