The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies are one step closer to coming face to face.
A potential meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping was discussed on Monday (February 27) during a visit by Beijing’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi—the first Chinese official to set foot in the White House since Trump took office.
But only briefly. The conversation between Yang and Trump apparently lasted just five to seven minutes.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer called it “an opportunity to say hi”.
It was enough time though to talk about boosting diplomatic ties between Beijing and Washington.
Yang told Trump that China was willing to respect both sides’ interests.
This is a stark contrast to the rocky relationship just months ago. Trump has attacked Beijing on issues from trade to the South China sea to North Korea.
The president talked to a number of world leaders before getting around to picking up the phone to Xi, a discussion seen to have put US-China relations back on familiar ground after Trump said he would honor the ‘one China’ policy—a massive coup for Beijing.
(Reuters)