Trump, Xi speak by phone, vow improved ties despite threats

Trump, Xi speak by phone, vow improved ties despite threats
by AFP Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2025

Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone on Friday, days before the incoming US president returns to the White House, with both leaders vowing to take a positive approach to improving ties between the rival countries.

Xi said he hoped for a "good start" to relations with Trump, who in turn said "it is my expectation that we will solve many problems together."

Trump in the election campaign threatened China and other US trading partners with huge tariffs, but he has also said he is open to talks with Xi, a leader he has long openly admired.

The threat of a 10 percent tariff on Chinese products, in addition to existing tariffs dating back to Trump's first term, is driven by accusations that China allows fentanyl's chemical components to flow into Mexico and onto America where the drug causes 70,000 overdose deaths a year.

"We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social after their call. "President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!"

The US Congress passed a law last year forcing TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell the platform or close it by Sunday due to national security concerns, but Trump opposes the ban.

The law resulted from widespread belief in Washington that the highly popular app could be used by China for spying or propaganda.

- Confrontational Trump -

Trump's impending return to the Oval Office has stirred fears that tensions between the world's two largest economies could worsen rapidly on several fronts.

This week Beijing slammed comments by Marco Rubio, Trump's nominee for secretary of state, as "unwarranted attacks," after Rubio called China "the most... dangerous near-peer adversary" the United States had ever faced.

Rubio said that China cheated its way to superpower status, and he vowed to ramp up defenses of Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing, to prevent a "cataclysmic military intervention."

Xi said on the call that "the Taiwan question concerns China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it is hoped that the US side handles it with caution," the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Trump said he wished to meet Xi soon, Xinhua reported, adding that Trump had requested Friday's call.

The Biden administration has largely worked to ease friction with Beijing and said that China has taken some action on fentanyl.

In his farewell speech, Biden said that China would "never surpass" the United States, which would remain the world's dominant superpower.

He added that by managing complex ties with Beijing, he had ensured the relationship "never tipped over into conflict" in his four years as president.