US President Donald Trump has announced that he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China on May 14-15. He had delayed the historic visit due to the US-Israel war with Iran.
It will be the first visit to China by a US President in almost 10 years.
President Trump will also host President Jinping in Washington, D.C. later this year. “Finalising preparations for these Historic Visits,” Trump announced on Truth Social on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the dates of Trump’s visit to China. “President Xi has understood and accepted our request to postpone the visit,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“President Xi understood that it’s very important for the president to be here throughout these combat operations right now,” Leavitt added.
While Trump has announced the dates of his visit to China, the Chinese government has not done the same. This is because they did not announce President Xi Jinping’s itinerary this early.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, “Both sides are maintaining communication regarding President Trump’s visit to China.”
He also noted that “leader-level diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role” for the two nations’ relations.
The US president’s trip, originally scheduled for 31 March, was postponed after the US and Israel launched a broad range of strikes against Iran last month, killing the country’s supreme leader.
In turn, Iran struck back against Israel and US-aligned countries in the Gulf, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, prompting a global fuel crisis.
The US president asked his country’s allies to help unblock the strait. Trump also warned Iran that if it does not allow full access through the Strait, the US would launch strikes against Iran’s oil production facilities.
When asked if the Iran war would wind down before Trump visits China, Leavitt noted that “we’ve always estimated approximately four to six weeks, so you can do the math on that”.
The last time a US president visited China was in November 2017, during Trump’s first term.
The last time Trump and Xi met was last October in South Korea, at the APEC summit.
The relationship between China and America is historically shaky due to numerous areas of conflict (i.e., trade issues, tech wars and geopolitical disputes). People will be watching Trump’s trip to see what happens.
The Global Times suggests American officials visit China before Trump’s trip.
However, with respect to previous visits, and particularly to the lack of a US President visiting China in recent years, the Global Times stated that there has been a lack of person-to-person exchanges between China and the United States and that this creates an “abnormal” situation.
