President Donald Trump said Monday that he has accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Beijing in April and that he reciprocated by inviting Xi for a state visit to the U.S. later next year.
Trump made the announcement after he spoke with Xi by phone nearly a month after the two leaders met in person in South Korea, saying they discussed issues including Ukraine, fentanyl and purchases of American soybeans.
“Our relationship with China is extremely strong!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Beijing, which announced the phone call first, said nothing about the state visits but noted that the two leaders discussed trade, Taiwan and Ukraine. Xi told Trump that Taiwan’s return to mainland China is “an integral part of the postwar international order,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said — a crucial issue to Beijing that Trump did not mention in his post.
The omissions from each side signal that sticking points remain for the two superpowers even as they highlight common ground following a series of talks to ease a trade war that has threatened the global economy.
The conversation came as China-Japan relations have plunged to a new low following recent remarks from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. She said the military in Japan, a key U.S. ally, could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule.
“My best guess is China is worried about the escalation (in tensions) with Japan. The reference to Taiwan and the post-World War II order directly points to the spat with Japan over Taiwan,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. “They also talked about Ukraine. That is an issue China is interested in due to the new peace negotiation.”
