Power move sends global signal: Trump invites Chinese president to his

We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.

President-elect Donald Trump continues his bold return to the Oval Office with an unprecedented move related to his January 20 inauguration.

In what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called a “tremendous move,” the incoming president extended an invitation to China’s President Xi Jinping to attend the upcoming inauguration. While other global leaders have also been invited, the outreach to China’s communist leader raised eyebrows and could send a strong global “signal.”

According to State Department records, past inaugurations have not been attended by any head of state. But Trump, in comments at the New York Stock Exchange last week, said he was “thinking about inviting certain people to the inauguration.”

“And some people said, ‘Wow, that’s a little risky, isn’t it?’” the former and future president said. “And I said, ‘Maybe it is. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens.’ But we like to take little chances.”

(Video Credit: FOX 5 Washington DC)

“This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too,” incoming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told “Fox & Friends” last week. “We saw this in his first term. He got a lot of criticism for it, but it led to peace around this world. He is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interest first.”

The bold move comes amid strong statements from Trump about the Chinese leader and threats of higher tariffs on goods have added to the frosty relationship between the U.S. and China.

“Look, I think Trump believes in constant offense, constant momentum, keeping things going forward,” Gingrich told Fox News host Jesse Watters.

“I think he gets up every day and tries to figure out, you know, ‘Let’s go to McDonald’s or let’s go to the garbage truck,’ whatever it takes, but he wants to be on offense. I suspect he woke up, looked around, and thought, ‘Yeah, I think my good friend Xi Jinping, we haven’t been together in a long time, why don’t I?’” the former House speaker added.

“So I think it’s a tremendous move. And I think there’s a 50-50 chance that Xi Jinping is going to show up, which you have to admit, in terms of sending a signal to the planet would be pretty unbelievable,” Gingrich said.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Meanwhile, Xi Jinping would reportedly see Trump’s invite as “too risky to accept,” according to the Associated Press.

“Should Trump slap tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods upon taking office as he’s threatened, Xi would look like a fool if he had chosen to attend, and that’s unacceptable to Beijing,” the AP noted, citing Yun Sun, director of the China program at a Washington-based think tank.

CNN’s Stephen Collinson said Xi’s potential acceptance of Trump’s “stunning invitation” would “be an enormous coup” for the president-elect.

“Such a visit would put the Chinese president in the position of paying homage to Trump and American might — which would conflict with his vision for China’s assumption of a rightful role as a preeminent global power,” he wrote. “At the inaugural ceremony, Xi would be forced to sit and listen to Trump without having any control over what the new president might say while lacking a right of reply. Xi’s presence would also be seen as endorsing a democratic transfer of power — anathema for an autocrat in a one-party state obsessed with crushing individual expression.”

Senior Staff Writer — [email protected]
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.

Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.