This is one of those items that threatens to make one’s eyebrows toboggan right off the top of one’s cranium; it seems that “multiple sources” have told CBS News that President-elect Donald Trump has invited China’s Chairman Xi to his second presidential inauguration on January 20th.
That, I admit, is an interesting move, if true.
President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month, multiple sources told CBS News, and inauguration officials are making plans for additional foreign dignitaries to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Trump invited Xi in early November, shortly after the election, sources said, but it was not clear whether he has accepted the invitation. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
Yeah, China may well be trying to figure out just what the *Acting* President is up to, here. Is he opening up a path for increased diplomatic talks, on the old Churchillian maxim of “jaw, jaw, jaw is better than war, war, war?” Could this be an olive branch towards China, which has been making aggressive moves in the Pacific lately – and who has landed thousands of their nationals, legally and illegally, on our shores?
Is Trump keeping his friends close, and his enemies, closer?
Xi Jinping is only one of the many world leaders to receive an invitation to the inauguration.
In addition to Xi, the president-elect’s team has raised the possibility of hosting other leaders at the Capitol on Jan. 20. Hungary’s far-right leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has a warm relationship with Trump and visited him at Mar-a-Lago this week, is “still considering” whether to attend, according to a source familiar with Orbán’s plans.
“World leaders are lining up to meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to power and restore peace through American strength around the globe,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
Here’s the thing: Foreign heads of state don’t attend these affairs. The more usual form is to have an ambassador attend. Trump’s invitation to Xi is a bit unusual. But then, what about Donald Trump’s political career hasn’t been unusual?
Bear in mind that things with China are a bit tense right now.
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There’s another possibility; it may not be his primary reason for the invitation, but Donald Trump may also be tweaking the noses of the leftist opposition with this “Only Nixon could go to China” move.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Then again, this is the man who went to Korea and spoke to Kim Jong Un, that stunted little gargoyle with bad hair from a long line of stunted little gargoyles with bad hair who runs the nation/prison camp called North Korea. This is the man who has all along said that to make deals, you have to talk to people, and he’s never shied away from talking to anyone. Not Kim Jong Un, not Tsar Vladimir I, and not Xi Jinping.
Given the silence from the Chinese embassy, it’s likely that they will instead follow the normal form and send their ambassador. But it’s a safe bet that, once he is back behind the Resolute Desk, President Trump will be seeking to talk to these people, as well as other world leaders. In his first term, he was big on talking and deal-making. There’s no reason to suspect he will abandon the practice in his second term. And, honestly, why shouldn’t he? Talking beats shooting, every day of the week.
