U.S President Donald Trump has decided to further
heighten tensions with China, the world's second largest economy after snubbing
China's leader Xi Jinping by not giving him an official phone call weeks
after his inauguration, sending him a letter instead, despite calling over 18
World leaders.
Donald
Trump has spoken to Theresa May, Francois Hollande, Vladmir Putin, Angela
Merkel and several world leaders since his presidential inauguration, and has
repeatedly signaled he'll be very hard with China, whom he has accused of
currency manipulation, unfair trade deals, militarizing the South China Sea and
not doing enough to help the US deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Trump’s letter to Xi (which
comes two weeks late) follows a “congratulatory note” sent by the Chinese
president to Trump on his 20th January inauguration.
In a statement, White House
press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump told Xi in the letter he was
looking forward to working with him “to develop a constructive
relationship that benefits both the United States and China”.
Speaking about Trump's snub
towards China, Nick Bisley, an international relations expert from La Trobe
University in Melbourne said:
“It’s a sign that bad times lie ahead in the US-China
relationship, China is very much being lined up by Trump’s people as not quite
enemy number one but something approximating that.”
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