President Donald Trump has finally reached out to China’s President Xi Jinping – via a letter wishing the Chinese a happy New Year.
BEIJING — President Donald Trump has finally reached out to China’s President Xi Jinping — via a letter.
Trump wished « the Chinese people a happy Lantern Festival and prosperous Year of the Rooster » in Wednesday’s letter, was notable for its timing.
The new American president has spoken by telephone to more than a dozen foreign leaders, but this was his first direct outreach to Xi, leader of the world’s most populous nation and its second largest economy.
While no reason has been given for the delay, relations between the world’s two largest trading partners have been strained with Trump unleashing a stream of anti-China remarks on trade, security, and territorial ambition on the campaign trail and since becoming president.
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The new president has accused China of unfair trade practices and deliberately undervaluing its currency, criticized its military build-up in the South China Seas and for allegedly doing too little to pressure neighbor North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.
Trump also upended four decades of diplomatic protocol by questioning the One China policy on Taiwan and by speaking by phone with Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
So the muted language in Wednesday’s letter stood in sharp contrast to the slew of anti-China remarks from Trump.
In it Trump wrote that that he looked forward to working with Xi to « develop a constructive relationship that benefits both the United States and China, » according to a statement released by the White House.
