BEIJING — President Trump formally invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his wife to the White House as he touted “the rich and enduring ties between the American and Chinese people.”

“It is my honor to extend an invitation to you and Madame Peng [Liyuan] to visit us at the White House this September 24, and we look forward to it,” Trump said at the conclusion of a 10-minute toast ahead of a state banquet in the Chinese capital’s Great Hall of the People.

“It’s a very special relationship, and I want to thank you again,” added the US president, using a phrase typically reserved to describe America’s ties to the United Kingdom.

“Many Chinese now love basketball and blue jeans,” said Trump elsewhere in his toast, adding that “Chinese restaurants in America today outnumber the five largest fast food chains in the United States all combined. That’s a pretty big statement.”

Trump’s toast was largely devoted to a rundown of the history of Sino-American relations, dating back to the arrival at Macao in 1784 of the first US consul, Samuel Shaw.

“Chinese workers helped lay the railroad tracks that connected our Atlantic coast to the Pacific,” the president recounted. “American travelers to China helped spread literacy and modern medicine, and at the request of China’s ambassador, it was President Theodore Roosevelt who provided the funds to establish President Xi’s alma mater, Tsinghua University.”

The banquet marked the conclusion of the first of two days of talks between Trump and Xi on the first visit by an American president to China since Trump made the same trip in 2017.

Xi made a state visit to the US in September 2015, where he was feted with a state dinner by President Barack Obama.

In his toast, Xi called for increased partnership between China and the US, nodding specifically to Trump’s famous campaign slogan.

“Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand,” the Chinese president said. “We can help each other succeed and advance the wellbeing of the whole world.”

“We both believe that the China-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” added Xi, who obliquely referenced what he called the “changing and turbulent” state of global affairs. “We must make it work and never mess it up.”

“Both China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” the Chinese president concluded. “Our two countries should be partners rather than rivals … Both sides should rise up to this historic responsibility and steer the giant ship of China-US relations forward, steadily and in the right direction.”