US President Donald Trump has said a planned meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing would be delayed by “five or six weeks”, as China noted the two sides would remain in communication about the visit.
“We’re working with China. They were fine with it ... I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think,” the American leader told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not confirm Trump’s timeline. “China and the US remain in communication on President Trump’s visit to China, including the dates,” it said shortly afterwards.
The Beijing trip had been scheduled for March 31 to April 2, according to a White House announcement in February. It would mark the first visit to China of Trump’s second term.
Trump was speaking in the Oval Office after a bilateral meeting with Irish leader Micheal Martin to mark St Patrick’s Day.
Describing China as “economically for us, very good, very good”, Trump added that “it’s much different than it was in the past, and we have a very good working relationship with China, so we’re making it in about five or six weeks”.
In response, China’s foreign ministry said the two sides would stay in communication about the US president’s visit.
“Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-US relations,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Wednesday.
“China and the US will continue to maintain communication on Trump’s visit to China.”
Separately on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing would try to mediate a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“The war should never have started and there is no need to fight it any longer,” Wang said during talks in Beijing with Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, special envoy of the president of the United Arab Emirates to China.
“It should be avoided to prevent greater casualties and losses,” China’s top diplomat added.
Trump had signalled a possible delay in his trip to China on Monday, saying the US was in talks with Beijing about the visit.
“I don’t know, we’re working on that right now. We’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel,” Trump said, adding that the US had asked to delay the trip by “a month or so”.
The postponement came as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its third week, with oil prices surging and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – a route that carries about a fifth of global oil supply – remaining at a virtual standstill.
Iran has used drones, missiles and mines to effectively close the channel for most tankers. About 20 vessels have been struck, reports have said.
While Trump has urged global powers including China to help secure the waterway, he has faced a wall of resistance from traditional partners.
Most US allies in Nato have rebuffed the US president’s calls for a coalition, prompting Trump to call their decision “a very foolish mistake” on Tuesday. He also said the US no longer needed assistance.
“Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID!” Trump wrote on social media.
He also singled out Asia-Pacific allies Japan, Australia and South Korea.
“WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!” he added.
Trump in recent days has tried to ramp up the pressure on allies, while urging China to send warships to the strait to keep it “open and safe”.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area,” Trump said in a social media post on Saturday.
He reiterated that call on Monday, arguing that China and other countries dependent on the strategic waterway, which links the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, should take responsibility for its security.
“China is a great example. They get 91 per cent of their oil from the Strait of Hormuz, which we protected for years,” Trump claimed. However, independent analysts put the figure at roughly 40 to 50 per cent.
The delayed visit was announced shortly after the sixth round of trade negotiations between the US and China concluded in Paris on Monday with no apparent breakthroughs.
Li Chenggang, China’s vice-minister for commerce and a leading trade negotiator for Beijing, said the two countries achieved preliminary consensus on some subjects and would continue to engage in dialogue.
As the crisis escalated in the Middle East, Iranian state media confirmed on Tuesday that Ali Larijani, the country’s security chief, had been killed by an Israeli air strike.
Larijani was considered to have played a vital role in Iran’s strategic decisions, including nuclear talks with the US and managing tensions with Tel Aviv and Washington.
Israel on Wednesday said a different air strike had killed Iranian intelligence minister Esmail Khatib.
US Central Command said the American military had fired several deep penetrator bombs on Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.
The war has plunged the world into an energy crisis that analysts said was severely testing China’s energy security and geopolitical strategy.
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said in a research report on Wednesday that “depending on how it is resolved, the US-Israel war on Iran could have profound implications for China’s strategic positioning in the Middle East and beyond”.
-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
