Details are scarce about Yang Jiechi’s trip to the United States.
China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, is in the United States for a two-day visit, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced.
“At the invitation of the U. S. government, State Councilor Yang Jiechi will visit the U. S. from February 27 to 28,” spokesperson Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press conference on Monday. “During the visit, he will exchange views with high-level officials of the U. S. on China-U. S. relations and issues of mutual interest.”
Geng declined to provide details on what would be discussed or which U. S. officials Yang would meet with, only saying, “We will release information about relevant arrangements of State Councilor Yang Jiechi’s visit in due course.” Generally, the primary host of an official visit is identified as the person extending the invitation – this time the “U. S. government” is cited as host.
Yang’s visit adds to a fairly thin list of official contacts between the new Trump administration and the Chinese government. Earlier this month, Trump himself spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone. Trump’s State and Treasury secretaries have also held phone conversations with Chinese officials. However, Yang’s visit is the first by a high-ranking Chinese official to the United States since Trump’s inauguration on January 20. There has been one other face-to-face meeting, when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the G20 talks in Bonn. (For comparison, by this time during the Obama administration’s first term, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had already visited China.)
Yang is considered one of the Chinese government’s top experts on the United States, having served as ambassador to the country from 2000-2004.
