Trump leaves China guessing as to what his next move will be with an unusual invitation to the inauguration

elected president trump took China by surprise when he invited President Xi Jinping to his upcoming inauguration, a friendly gesture ahead of a long-awaited trade war.

The move left everyone wondering what Trump was doing: A Chinese head of state has not attended a US inauguration in history.

Xi is not expected to accept the invitation, sources told CBS News.

“We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship,” Trump told CNBC on Friday. “We have been talking and discussing some things with President Xi.”

But the invitation comes as the US intelligence community revealed a massive hack of eight US telecommunications companies, finding that Chinese hackers had accessed the data of millions of Americans, including the vice president elected JD Vance.

hacking, nicknamed Salt Typhoon and one of the largest in history, it mostly affected people in the Washington, DC area, and was aimed at people connected to the government. Information about your phone calls and text messages has been intercepted.

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Meanwhile, a Chinese national was arrested on suspicion of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base in northern California, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

“Many people were disappointed by this invitation,” said China expert Gordon Chang.

“A responsible man spreading covid beyond China’s borders, to be behind the fentanyl program, which kills 70,000 Americans a year, that was not a good look for the United States,” he continued. “And it betrayed weakness.” .

“The Chinese president looks at this and thinks that Trump is not serious,” Chang said.

“Xi Jinping has made it clear that the United States is China’s enemy. He has done so in many ways. And for an American president to show friendship is not a gesture in Xi’s mind, it is a sign of weakness, and Chinese leaders always take advantage of weakness.”

It is unclear whether the invitation means Trump wants to take a more diplomatic approach to the relationship with China after a campaign marked by threats to raise tariffs.

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Trump has floated the idea of ​​a blanket 60 percent tariff on all goods imported from China, which would cover about $400 billion in products.

Supporters of free trade have worried that this would break a Trump campaign promise: to curb and avoid the record inflation numbers seen under the Biden administration.

And the threat of a trade war comes as military tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific. China has been making shows of force in the waters off the coasts of US allies such as the Philippines and Japan, and increasingly threatens Taiwanan insular democracy that it considers as its legitimate territory.

Defense experts have begun to reflect if the US could find itself at war with China.

Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia Engagement at the Defense Priorities think tank, welcomed news of the invitation, reading it as a sign of a willingness to participate.

“Nothing like that has happened under him biden administration,” he said. “Trump is a negotiator and I think China is eager to make deals.

“Biden’s approach was very ideological, you know, the world is black and white.”

“If we enter a new Cold War, the results, I think, will be devastating for both the United States and China,” Goldstein added. “I think there’s some understanding in the Trump team that there’s a lot at stake here.”

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Meanwhile, China is considering further devaluing its currency in anticipation of Trump’s tariffs, according to a Reuters report.

“People need to realize that trade with China in general is a good thing. But yes, we have to do it. There are some key readjustments that need to be made,” Goldstein said.

“I would like to see that happen from China’s currency realignment.”