Trump invitations China’s Xi Jinping to attend inauguration, CBS Information studies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese language President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration subsequent month, CBS Information reported on Wednesday, citing a number of sources.

The invitation to the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington occurred in early November, shortly after the Nov. 5 presidential election, and it was not clear if it had been accepted, CBS reported.

The Chinese language embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Trump mentioned in an interview with NBC Information carried out on Friday that he “acquired together with very nicely” with Xi and that that they had “had communication as lately as this week.”

It will be unprecedented for a pacesetter of China, a prime U.S. geopolitical rival, to attend a U.S. presidential inauguration.

Trump has named quite a few China hawks to key posts in his incoming administration, together with Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state.

The president-elect has mentioned he’ll impose an extra 10% tariff on Chinese language items except Beijing does extra to cease trafficking of the extremely addictive narcotic fentanyl. He additionally threatened tariffs in extra of 60% on Chinese language items whereas on the marketing campaign path.

In late November, China’s state media warned Trump that his pledge to slap further tariffs on Chinese language items over fentanyl flows may drag the world’s prime two economies right into a mutually damaging tariff struggle.

Individually on Wednesday, China’s U.S. Ambassador Xie Feng learn a letter from Xi to a U.S.-China Enterprise Council gala in Washington, through which the Chinese language chief mentioned Beijing was ready to remain in communication with the U.S.

“We should always select dialogue over confrontation and win-win cooperation over zero-sum video games,” Xi mentioned within the letter.

Xie added that the 2 international locations shouldn’t decouple provide chains. However Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, mentioned in a prerecorded video tackle that China at occasions tried to “sugar coat” difficult and aggressive relations.

“No quantity of blissful speak can obscure our profound variations,” Burns mentioned.