by Ben Whedon
President Donald Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May, the White House announced on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the May 14-15 visit and told reporters that Xi would visit the United States at an undetermined later date.
The announcement pushes back Trump’s originally planned visit and comes as the war in the Middle East dominates American foreign policy. Though the Trump administration has sought negotiations with Iran, many of its senior leaders have rebuffed American proposals and issued harsh counter-terms.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohamed Ghalibaf, who was initially reported to be one of the leading Iranian figures with whom the United States was negotiating, has emerged as a hardliner in the conflict and publicly warned the Gulf States against aiding an American occupation of the Persian Gulf islands, saying Tehran would target their infrastructure if they did so.
“Based on some data, Iran’s enemies, with the support of one of the regional countries, are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands,” he said on Wednesday. “All enemy movements are under the full surveillance of our armed forces. If they step out of line, all the vital infrastructure of that regional country will, without restriction, become the target of relentless attacks.”
Trump said he will also be hosting Jinping in America at some point later this year.
“Our Representatives are finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits. I look very much forward to spending time with President Xi in what will be, I am sure, a Monumental Event. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he said.
Trump and Jinping met last October for about 100 minutes, during which the two world leaders discussed relations between the two countries.
– – –
Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
