Donald Trump does not mind meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his inauguration
12 December 2024 15:28
US President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month. Reuters reports this with reference to CBS News, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
Such an invitation is quite unprecedented, in particular because, as a rule, only ambassadors of countries attend the inauguration of the US President.
CBS sources note that the invitation to the Chinese leader to attend the January 20 inauguration of the US President in Washington was sent in early November, shortly after the November 5 presidential election, and it is not known whether it was accepted.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters recalls that Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Friday that he “got along very well” with Xi and that they “spoke as recently as this week.”
Still, the presence of the leader of China, the United States’ main geopolitical rival, at the inauguration of the American president would be unprecedented, given the Chinese hawks Trump is appointing to key positions in his future administration, including Senator Marco Rubio, who is to be appointed Secretary of State.
In addition, the president-elect himself has already stated that he will impose an additional 10% duty on Chinese goods if Beijing does not do more to stop the trade in the highly addictive drug fentanyl. During the election campaign, he also threatened tariffs of more than 60% on Chinese goods.
In late November, Chinese state media warned Trump that his promise to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods over fentanyl shipments could drag the world’s two largest economies into a mutually destructive tariff war.
On the other hand, this Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng read Xi’s letter at a gala meeting of the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington, D.C., in which the Chinese leader said Beijing is ready to maintain communication with the United States.
“We should choose dialogue over confrontation and mutually beneficial cooperation over zero-sum games,” Xi said in the letter.
He added that the two countries should not disconnect supply chains. But Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, said in a pre-recorded video message that China has at times tried to “sugarcoat” the complex and competitive relationship.
“No amount of happy talk can obscure our deep differences,” Burns said.
And one more “fresh” statement is worth mentioning. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce today assured that China is open to interaction and communication with the Trump administration’s economic and trade team.
