The White House announced that President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to China on May 14 and 15 for a rescheduled summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The visit was postponed from a planned trip at the end of this month after rising regional tensions related to Iran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the trip as “long-awaited,” and said Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania will later host President Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan in Washington, D.C., on a reciprocal visit later this year.
Asked whether ending the conflict in the region was a precondition for rescheduling, Leavitt said there had been no such requirement in talks between the leaders. “President Xi understood that it’s very important for the president to be here throughout the region right now. He understood, obviously, the request to postpone and accept it, which is why we have a meeting,” she said. On whether the conflict would be resolved by May, she reiterated an earlier estimate of roughly four to six weeks.
Mr. Trump and Xi last met in person in October on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea. Last week in the Oval Office, while meeting Ireland’s prime minister, Mr. Trump said he would delay his trip by five or six weeks rather than going at the end of the month, and that China had agreed to the new dates. “We’re working with China, they were fine with it,” he said. “I look forward to seeing President Xi. He looks forward to seeing me, I think.”
Recent military actions and retaliatory strikes in the Gulf region have expanded tensions and disrupted energy and shipping routes, in particular raising concerns about transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Those developments were cited by U.S. officials as factors in the original postponement of the visit.
