The front page of the Chinese language Global Times showed Mr Xi and Mr Trump strolling at Mar-a-Lago, and Mr Trump's declaration of an "outstanding relationship" with China.

The US air strike on Syria was relegated to the world news pages. The English version of the paper, known for its hawkish anti-Western views at times, highlighted that Ivanka Trump's children had sung and recited Classical Chinese verse to Mr Xi and his wife.

The Chinese government was muted in its response to the air strikes, waiting six hours before making any public comment. China's foreign ministry avoided direct criticism of the US action, but called for calm and pointedly said a political solution was urgently needed.

China's reaction is being closely watched because it holds veto power over any United Nations Security Council vote to sanction Syria. In February China joined with Russia to block a UN sanction against Syria's use of chemical weapons.

This time, however, China's early response has sat in contrast to Russia, which had quickly labelled the US strikes an act of aggression.

Overnight in the UN Security Council, China's delegate Liu Jieyi said: "A political solution is the only way out for the Syrian issue. Military means will not work."

Any criticism by China of the US action in Syria is unlikely to come while Mr Xi is in Florida. The Chinese government had placed great importance on the Xi-Trump meeting being a success, and stabilising the relationship with the Trump administration, which had a rocky start even before Mr Trump's inauguration.

At the close of the meeting there were no announcements of breakthroughs on North Korea or trade imbalances, topics high on the two leaders' agendas.

With Syria stealing the limelight, pressure for Mr Trump to have claimed a victory over China on these issues, to tweet to his domestic audience, had evaporated.

But perhaps Mr Xi gained the one thing Chinese foreign policy observers had predicted China needed from the meeting: a delay to any punitive US trade sanctions against China.

In regards to North Korea the unilateral strike against Syria will be read as underlining Mr Trump's willingness to act alone, putting flesh on the bone of the recent rhetoric from his administration that all options are on the table for dealing with North Korea.

But China has bought more time here also. The US is believed to have been pressuring China to crackdown on Chinese companies dealing with North Korea, helping the regime raise funds through a shadowy network of front companies.

Mr Trump will visit China this year. Mr Xi will want the second meeting with the US President to go just as smoothly, as a critical meeting of the Chinese Communist Party looms in November when he will need to consolidate his power.