U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be doing some damage control to the U.S.-China relationship by sending Lunar New Year greetings to China. However, his greeting is 11 days late since the Chinese New Year was on Jan. 28 and three days early for the Lantern Festival on Feb. 11.
Trump’s Greetings for 2 Occasions
According to the White House, Trump sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping to thank him for sending Trump a congratulatory letter on his inauguration on Jan. 20. He wished China a “happy Lantern Festival and prosperous Year of the Rooster,” The Washington Post reported.
Trump also said he looked forward to working with China “to develop a constructive relationship.” In turn, Lu Kang, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, said China places great importance to develop the relationship with the U.S. He specifically expressed Beijing’s willingness to widen cooperation and manage differences with Washington by being guided by principles of upholding non-conflict and non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation for the development of bilateral ties in a stable and healthy manner, CCTV reported.
Standard Diplomatic Language
The influential daily noted that while the language that Trump used is standard diplomatic language, it is still a departure from the negative words that the former real estate billionaire used during the campaign. He previously called China and enemy of the U.S. for raping the country using unfair trade practices.
Trump has personally called by phone 18 other world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Canadian President Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Some Chinese political experts believe Trump would also call Ji Xinping after Michael Flynn, national security adviser, spoke last week to Yang Jiechi, the top diplomat of China.
Lu added that “Cooperation is the only right choice for China and the United States.”