PTI
Beijing
China on Monday said it is in talks with the US over the planned visit of President Xi Jinping to Washington in September, signalling that the visit is on track despite recent tensions after President Donald Trump’s allegation that Beijing interfered in American elections.
“Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance for US-China relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing here on Monday while replying to a question over US Secretary Marco Rubio voicing confidence that Trump’s remarks wouldn’t affect Xi’s visit to the US.
The two sides had “maintained communication regarding the arrangements for the heads of state’s interactions later this year,” Lin said.
On Sunday, Rubio, before flying to the Philippines to attend a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, struck an optimistic note when asked whether Trump’s remarks would affect Xi’s visit to the US.
“We anticipate that the trip is happening in September,” Rubio said.
“They’ve continued to send over their teams to prepare for it, and I’ve heard nothing otherwise,” he said of the Chinese side. “I have no reason to believe that they won’t be coming,” he told the media, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
Rubio was expected to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who would also be in the Philippines to attend the ASEAN meeting.
Lin said Wang will attend the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Manila on July 22 but declined to confirm the Rubio-Wang meeting on its sidelines.Â
Lin said Wang will also attend the Foreign Ministers› meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states to be held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, from July 23 to 25.
Earlier reports said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu was expected to visit Washington and Miami to prepare the ground for Xi›s visit to the US.
Xi›s visit came under cloud after Trump alleged that China meddled in the US presidential elections with «illicit acquisition» of 220 million voter files, including personal information.
China rejected Trump›s allegations and dismissed his claims as fabricated and a malicious smear and asked him to stop making baseless allegations.
China has always upheld the principle of non-interference in other countries› internal affairs and has neither any interest in nor ever interfered in US elections, Lin told the media here last Friday.
During his visit to Beijing last year, Trump had invited Xi to make a reciprocal visit to the US in September, which was accepted by the Chinese President.
Chinese analysts said Trump›s latest allegations against China may derail President Xi Jinping›s planned visit to the US.
