(TibetanReview.net, May16’26) – Chinese president Xi Jinping is to pay a state visit to the United States later this year at the invitation of his counterpart Donald Trump who has just concluded a three-day visit to Beijing. The near-total absence of human rights from current US-China dialogue is a marked departure from the diplomacy of previous generations – reflecting both the transformation of the US in the Trump era and China’s increasing confidence on the world stage, noted a theguardian.com analysis May 16, following Trump’s visit.
The analysis described Trump’s attitude towards human rights as flippant. At the conclusion of his visit on May 15, Trump said Xi was seriously considering releasing a detained pastor in China but that the case of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai “is a tough one,” reported Reuters May `15.
“I would say the response to that was not positive,” Trump was quoted as saying on a Fox News Channel’s ‘Special Report’.
And that appeared to be just about the only human rights exchange that took place during Trump’s visit.
Xi’s plan for a Sep 24 visit to the White House was stated to have been confirmed by China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on May 15. He called on both sides to work together to make thorough preparations for future interactions and exchanges between the two leaders, foster a favourable atmosphere and build up more outcomes, reported the timesofindia.com May 15.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in both parties have said the US should continue to provide arms to Taiwan after Trump, at the end of his summit with Xi, said he hasn’t decided whether to move forward with a pending arms sale to the island, reported cbsnews.com May 15.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on May 15 after departing from Beijing, Mr Trump said he and Xi “talked a lot about Taiwan” during their summit and confirmed the Chinese leader had brought up the US weapons sale. And he said he made “no commitment either way” on the issue and declined to publicly state whether the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
On the same day, Taiwan sent a pointed message to China after the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, saying US arms sales to the island are protected by American law and that Taipei will continue to deepen strategic ties with the United States, according to another timesofindia.com report May 15.
Both US and China have released statements detailing what Trump and Xi discussed, but they only overlap in limited areas. The two White House readouts published on May 14 addressed issues not mentioned in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statements, and vice versa, noted aljazeera.com May 15.