Trump has invited China’s Xi to inauguration, spokesperson says

(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump has invited China’s President Xi Jinping to his inauguration in January, his spokesperson said Thursday.

Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed reports about the invitation on Fox News on Thursday morning.

Asked if she could confirm if Trump has invited Xi to his inauguration, Leavitt said, “That is true, yes and this is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies, but our adversaries and our competitors, too. We saw this in his first term — he got a lot of criticism for it; but it led to peace around this world; he is willing to talk to anyone, and he will always put America’s interests first.”

Leavitt said it is “to be determined” if the Chinese president has RSVP’d, and that other world leaders are being invited as well.

CBS News was first to report that Xi Jinping had been invited.

In October, in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Trump called Xi a “brilliant guy.”

“He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not,” he said.

Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on imports from China. He and Xi last met at the G20 summit in Japan in 2019.

Asked about the inauguration invitation Thursday as he made an appearance at the New York Stock Exchange, Trump wouldn’t comment directly on whether Xi has committed to attend.

“Well, I’ve invited a lot of great people. And they’ve all accepted. Everybody I invited has accepted,” Trump said.

“President Xi, as well?” reporters asked. Trump dodged, saying, “Very good relationship.”

But it’s highly unlikely the Chinese leader would attend Trump’s inauguration because of the political risks. Beijing is highly sensitive about what this could look like to the domestic audience in China.

“Going to Trump’s inauguration makes Xi Jinping look like a supplicant to Trump, because this is a ceremony honoring Trump. It’s all about America first,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow for Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

“Xi would be attending to honor Trump’s victory. I don’t think that sits well with Xi’s self-image and his political reputation in China as a nationalist strongman,” Thomas said.

If Xi were to break precedent and attend, not only would it put him in a more subservient position to Trump but it could also be seen as an endorsement of the democratic system.

Thomas added that Xi would likely prefer to travel to the U.S. for a dedicated U.S.-China summit, where the two leaders are seen as equals.

It’s also possible that as a gesture of goodwill, Xi could dispatch a relatively senior Chinese official to attend the inauguration, who is higher ranking that the Chinese ambassador.

If Xi did attend, the visit would be the first time a foreign leader attended a United States presidential inauguration in recent history. Records from the State Department’s Office of the Historian dating back to 1874 show that a foreign head of state has never attended a U.S. presidential inauguration.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, when asked for the administration’s response to the invitation to Xi, said it was “going to be up to President-elect Trump to decide who’s going to sit with him there at the inauguration.”

“We’ve worked really hard on this most consequential bilateral relationships … and we believe that as we get ready to turn over things to the Trump team that we’re turning turning over a U.S.-China relationship that is in better shape than the one we found it,” Kirby said.

“That we don’t have disagreements,” he continued. “We do. And we will. And I’m sure they will, too. But we’re working hard on this relationship, and we’ll do that right to the end.”

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler, Peter Charalambous and Shannon Kingston contributed to this report.

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