President-elect Donald Trump surprised China by inviting President Xi Jinping to his upcoming inauguration and showing a friendly attitude ahead of a widely anticipated trade war.
The move left everyone wondering what Trump was up to. No Chinese head of state has ever attended a U.S. inauguration in history.
Sources told CBS News that President Xi has no plans to accept the invitation.
“We have a great relationship with China, and I have a great relationship with China,” President Trump told CNBC on Friday. “We have discussed and discussed several things with President Xi.”
But the invitation comes as U.S. intelligence agencies uncovered a massive hack of eight U.S. telecommunications companies, and Chinese hackers hacked the data of millions of Americans, including Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. This was carried out after it was discovered that he had been accessing the site.
The hack, known as Salt Typhoon, was one of the most widespread in history, primarily affecting people in the Washington, D.C., area and targeting government officials. Information about their phone calls and text messages was intercepted.
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President-elect Trump. (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had arrested a Chinese national on suspicion of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Northern California.
“Many people were disappointed by this invitation,” said Gordon Chan, a China expert.
“He’s the person responsible for spreading the coronavirus across China’s borders, he’s the person behind the fentanyl program that kills 70,000 Americans a year, and that’s not good for the United States,” he said. continued. “And it betrayed weakness.”
“The Chinese president sees this and believes that President Trump is not serious,” Zhang said.
“Xi Jinping has made it clear that the United States is China’s enemy. He has done it in a variety of ways. And it is not a gesture of friendship in Xi Jinping’s heart that the president of the United States shows, but a sign of weakness. It is a sign of weakness, which Chinese leaders constantly exploit. ”
It’s unclear whether the invitation means Trump is taking a more diplomatic approach to relations with China after a campaign marked by threats to raise tariffs.
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President Trump has floated the idea of imposing a flat 60% tariff on all imports from China, which would affect about $400 billion worth of products.
Free trade advocates fear this will break President Trump’s campaign promise to curb and halt the record inflation rates seen under the Biden administration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Reuters/Adriano Machado)
President Trump speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
And as military tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific region, the threat of a trade war arises. China has demonstrated its military presence off the coasts of U.S. allies such as the Philippines and Japan, posing a growing threat to Taiwan, an island democracy it considers to be its legitimate territory.
Defense experts are beginning to wonder if the United States could be at war with China.
Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia engagement at think tank Defense Priorities, welcomed news of the invitation and interpreted it as a sign of willingness to engage.
“Nothing like that is happening under the Biden administration.” “Trump is a deal maker and I think China wants to make deals too.
“Biden’s approach was very ideological. You know, the world is black and white.”
“If we enter a new Cold War, the consequences would be catastrophic for both the United States and China,” Goldstein added. “I think the Trump team has some understanding that the stakes here are very high.”
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Meanwhile, Reuters reports that China is considering further devaluation of its currency in anticipation of President Trump’s tariffs.
“People should realize that trade with China is generally a good thing, but it certainly has to be done. There has to be some important readjustment,” Goldstein said.
“I hope that happens with a realignment of the Chinese currency.”
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