The letter wishing \u201cthe Chinese people a happy Lantern Festival and prosperous Year of the Rooster\u201d was sent late \u2014 four days after the Chinese New Year holiday officially ended.<\/b>
The letter wishing \u201cthe Chinese people a happy Lantern Festival and prosperous Year of the Rooster\u201d was sent late \u2014 four days after the Chinese New Year holiday officially ended.
But the Chinese government didn\u2019t seem to mind.
It portrayed the letter, from President Trump to President Xi Jinping , as a sign of detente in a relationship that has grown tense since Trump was elected.
\u201cWe highly praise\u201d the letter,\u00a0China\u2019s foreign affairs spokesman, Lu Kang, said Thursday. \u201cAs President Xi pointed out, China and the U. S. shoulder special responsibilities to maintain world peace, stability and prosperity.\u201d
Trump has not been kind to China.
He has accused it of manipulating its currency, supporting North Korea\u2019s leader Kim Jong-Un, economically \u201craping\u201d the U. S. and creating \u201cthe concept of global warming\u201d as a hoax to undercut U. S. manufacturing.
He also offended Beijing by breaking longstanding protocol and holding a phone call with the president of Taiwan, over which China has claimed sovereignty since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s.\u00a0
Though Trump has spoken by phone with more than a dozen other world leaders since his Jan. 20 inauguration, his only conversation with Xi took place in November, a week after the election.
Trump\u2019s top advisor on trade is Peter Navarro, a hawkish business professor at UC Irvine who directed a documentary called \u201cDeath by China.\u201d
And his secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, told the Senate during his confirmation hearing that China should be denied access to artificial islands that it built in contested waters of the South China Sea.
But the newspaper said that Trump\u2019s letter \u201chas been largely seen as a kindhearted message\u201d \u2014 and a sign that the two countries may be moving toward a \u201creasonable strategic relationship.\u201d
The Trump administration has softened its tone somewhat since the campaign and the transition period.
In a phone call last week with China\u2019s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn \u201cnoted that the U. S. government is committed to developing strong U. S,-China relations,\u201d China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
Trump\u2019s daughter, Ivanka Trump, attended a Chinese Lunar New Year event at China\u2019s embassy in Washington last week and shook hands with Ambassador Cui Tiankai.
And this week in Tokyo, Trump\u2019s Defense secretary, James Mattis , said that issues in the South China Sea would be \u201cbest solved by the diplomats.\u201d
The relationship between the countries stands at a \u201cprecarious crossroads,\u201d said a report released Tuesday by a task force of more than two dozen China experts who offered the Trump administration a list of recommendations as it crafts its China strategy.\u00a0
The administration \u201cappears to be considering policy approaches toward China and Asia that could radically alter the basic strategy that previous Republican and Democratic presidents have pursued for many decades,\u201d the report said.
It said the administration \u201cshould recognize that U. S. engagement with China from a principled position of strength in Asia has generally served these interests well and should be continued.\u201d
Shen Dingli, a professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that Trump\u2019s letter signaled a desire for reconciliation and was more effective than a phone call.
\u201cIt is better to reach out to China indirectly,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason why he sent a letter.\u201d
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The Lucerne Valley Mustangs refuse to quit, \u00a0 a week in the life of P\u201122 , Senate rebukes Elizabeth Warren ,\u00a0and judges sharply question attorneys for both sides on Trump’s travel ban .<\/p>\n