Saturday, March 29, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he has accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Beijing in April. Trump also said that he has invited Xi to visit the United States in the latter half of next year.
The announcement came just hours after Trump and Xi held a phone conversation on Monday morning. According to Trump, the two leaders discussed a range of issues—including the war in Ukraine, fentanyl trafficking, and agricultural trade such as soybeans. This phone call took place nearly a month after their face-to-face meeting in Busan, South Korea.
“We have strong relations with China,” Trump stated, noting that both sides expressed a willingness to stabilize bilateral ties.
China’s initial readout of the call confirmed that the leaders had discussed trade, tensions, and the situation in Ukraine, but did not mention any planned state visits. According to China’s official news agency Xinhua, Xi told Trump that Taiwan’s return to mainland China is “an important part of the post–World War II international order.”
The Xinhua report noted that Xi emphasized China’s long-standing position on Taiwan—an island Beijing claims as its territory. Although Chinese authorities typically stress that their leaders only take calls “by appointment,” Monday’s readout did not include such language, suggesting, analysts say, that Beijing might have taken the initiative to call Washington.
Sun Yun, Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said,
“This implies China likely placed the call. My sense is that Beijing is increasingly concerned about escalating tensions with the United States.”
According to the report, Xi reiterated that China and the U.S. should work together to uphold global stability, calling their cooperation “a key outcome of World War II.”
