CNN
—
Donald Trump has privately told his advisers he wants to visit China after being sworn in to office, three sources familiar with the talks told CNN, as the president-elect seeks to facilitate an open dialogue with Beijing while also pursuing hardline stance on the country.
Trump has expressed interest in visiting several countries once president, two of the sources said, including India to meet with the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, with whom he has long had a warm relationship with.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Trump telling advisers he wants to travel to China.
Trump, who campaigned on aggressively targeting China through tariffs and other measures, spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. The two discussed trade, fentanyl and TikTok, among other issues, the president-elect said. Trump also invited Xi to attend his inauguration on Monday, but China is instead sending Vice President Han Zheng.
Trump has long argued that US presidents should speak directly with foreign adversaries, often boasting on the campaign trail that he had great relationships with leaders such as Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“One of the things that President Trump did so effectively in his first four years is that he knows that if you want to change something with the country, whether it be an adversary or whether it be a rival, or in the case of China … you have to be able to talk to them and say, ‘This is what we want to do,’” Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN’s Jessica Dean on Saturday.
“Does that mean that we’re going to be buddy-buddy? No, not at all. If anything, it means that President Trump can be tougher directly with them,” Miller said.
The president-elect “wants to makes deals with Xi,” one outside Trump adviser told CNN of the incoming president’s aims.
“He sees his relationship with the Chinese president as a stand-in for the American relationship with Beijing,” the person said, pointing to Trump’s efforts to cultivate Xi during his first term in office — including an early invitation to Mar-a-Lago for talks over chocolate cake, and a visit to Beijing in 2017 that was meant to deepen their personal ties.
That trip included memorable scenes of the two presidents and their wives touring the Forbidden City and sitting inside the vast Great Hall of the People for talks.
“Trump took that to mean Xi wanted to show how much he respected him,” said the adviser, who was involved in the trip. “He wants to reignite that relationship.”
Xi has also signaled a more open approach to Trump, including congratulating the president-elect following his November victory and saying the US and China should “find the right way to get along in the new era, so as to benefit both countries and the wider world,” according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
