US President-elect Donald Trump reportedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inauguration in January despite rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump extended the invitation to Xi shortly after his decisive election victory in November. CBS news reportciting multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.
CBS said that U.S. inaugural officials are making plans to receive more foreign dignitaries besides Xi Jinping at the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for January 20.
AF Channel also reported: Taiwanese officials held talks with the Trump team in the United States
The report noted that while envoys from other countries are typically invited to presidential inaugurations, no foreign head of state has ever attended the ceremony based on records dating back to 1874.
CBS White House correspondent Jennifer Jacobs noted that Trump’s invitation to Xi, despite his recent hostility toward Beijing, may have been motivated by a desire to build negotiating power.
“Trump has long believed that relationships between leaders … actually help him get deals done,” Jacobs said.
“He always felt that he should talk to these leaders, even the most difficult leaders or leaders who had a hostile relationship with the United States, including people like Xi Jinping,” she said.
“He feels…the closer he is to these leaders…the more he can get done and advance his agenda.”
“Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend”
Even so, diplomatic precedent suggests Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend the ceremony.
So far, no Chinese head of state has attended the U.S. inauguration ceremony According to the South China Morning Post. Furthermore, Xi Jinping has never attended such events, instead sending special envoys to attend such events.
The South China Morning Post noted that just this year, Beijing sent special envoys to attend meetings between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Mexican President Claudia Sheenbaum and Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino. Inauguration ceremony.
Experts also told the South China Morning Post that state visits typically require months of planning, dialogue and preparation.
Josef Gregory Mahoney, professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, told the South China Morning Post that Xi would also be wary of the appearance of a visit solely for the inauguration.
“Does it reflect a ‘royal prerogative’ on Trump’s part to have other leaders present and acknowledge his ‘coronation’? China would be sensitive to such a display,” Mahoney said.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
quarrel and talk
Trump’s invitation comes at a tricky moment in U.S.-China relations, given the president-elect’s announcement He will impose a 10% tariff on all imports from China. He previously vowed to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese imports during his campaign earlier this year.
Trump has appointed numerous China hawks to key positions in the incoming administration, including Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
Meanwhile, he told NBC News last week that he and Xi “get along very well.” Trump said he and Xi Jinping have been “communicating with each other.”
But on Tuesday, Xi Jinping struck a slightly tougher tone when addressing the tariff threat in person for the first time since Trump was elected.
In a speech to the heads of the ten major international economic organizations in Beijing, Xi Jinping said, “Tariff wars, trade wars, and technology wars go against the trend of history and economic laws, and there will be no winners.”
It is hoped that the United States and China will work together to promote the development of bilateral relations in a stable, healthy and sustainable direction. According to the state-backed Xinhua News Agency.
“Happy talk is not enough”
Meanwhile, Chinese officials have issued multiple statements this week saying they are ready to engage with the United States.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce said that China is open to contact and communication with the Trump administration’s economic and trade team.
China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, read a letter from Xi Jinping at a U.S.-China Business Council gala in Washington on Wednesday, in which the Chinese leader said Beijing was prepared to maintain communication with the United States.
Xi Jinping said in the letter: “We should choose dialogue instead of confrontation, and win-win cooperation instead of zero-sum game.”
Xie added that the two countries should not decouple supply chains. But Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, said in a prerecorded video speech that China sometimes tried to “whitewash” a challenging and competitive relationship.
“No amount of pleasant conversation can hide the deep differences between us,” Burns said.
- Vishakha Saxena, Reuters
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