As President Donald Trump unleashes sweeping changes across the US government and overturns decades of American foreign policy, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project tightly-controlled stability.

"A very good friend of mine" was how US President Donald Trump described Chinese President Xi Jinping during his election campaign last year. Then, in the days after taking office in January, Trump said he "always liked" Xi,

President Xi Jinping heads into China’s biggest political huddle of the year with his economy finally getting back some swagger. Donald Trump’s rising tariffs will test Beijing’s ability to sustain that momentum.