Washington DC:

Sun Tzu, A Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher who lived approximately in the 5th Century BC, is best known for his famous book ‘The Art Of War’. In it, he wrote a proverb well-known to the world even today – “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. US President-elect Donald Trump seems to have taken a leaf out of Sun Tzu’s book when he invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to his inaugural ceremony in Washington DC scheduled for January 20th.

President Xi, who perhaps is also familiar with Sun Tzu works, read right through Donald Trump’s invite and has politely declined it, as per the latest reports.

Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to invite the Chinese President astonished officials in Washington and many others beyond. “A foreign leader has never attended the inauguration of a US President,” said the US State Department after hours of looking up official records dating back to 1874.

“It is, however, common for Ambassadors and other diplomats to attend the President’s swearing-in ceremony,” the US State Department added.

Amid all the hustle and bustle  at the White House – and chaos behind the scenes – Donald Trump’s spokesperson Karoline Leavitt decided to give an interview to Fox News. Confirming the invite to Xi Jinping, Ms Leavitt said “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just allies but our adversaries and our competitors too.”

She also said that an invite for Donald Trump’s oath taking ceremony was sent to several other foreign leaders besides just Xi Jinping, but did not reveal who they were. It is not known yet if these “other invites” were sent on the same day as the one extended to Xi Jinping, or after Washington learnt about the Chinese President’s decision not to attend.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, officials in Beijing have remained tight-lipped over the issue. President Xi though, had as recently Tuesday, warned Washington about the expected tariff, trade, and tech wars once Trump becomes President. Expecting economic trouble in the weeks and months ahead, President Xi held a crucial meeting with heads of 10 major international organisations, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Beijing.

“There will be no winners,” he cautioned the United States in his speech at that meeting while he spoke about tariff hikes, tech-bans, and trade clampdowns that Donald Trump has vowed to impose on China during his election campaign.

With such war of words and aggressive posturing by both Trump and Xi, the former’s decision to invite the Chinese President for his inauguration ceremony does indeed seem both misplaced and rather unusual.

Donald Trump has blown hot and cold in his views about Xi Jinping – calling him “a great guy” on one occasion, and describing him as his nemesis on another. An invite sent, as one would, to an ally on the one hand, and calling China “the greatest threat” on the other.

Speaking about President Xi in his pre-election podcast with Joe Rogan, Trump had said, “He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.” But in two other interviews he called Xi Jinping the “biggest threat to the world” and labelled China as the “threat of the century”.

Donald Trump has also appointed Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State and Mike Walz as his National Security Adviser – both staunch critics of China who have kept a hawk’s eye on every move Beijing makes – so much so, that the Chinese government has placed sanctions on Marco Rubio, and in 2020 had banned him from ever entering the country again – something Beijing would need to reconsider when he takes office as Secretary of State.

Weeks before the Trump Administration takes over, NSA-designate Mike Waltz has already urged President-elect Trump to “urgently end the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East in order to counter the greater threat from the Chinese Communist Party”.

All eyes are now on what will be Trump’s next move after the invitation snub, and what will be Xi Jinping’s counter. The endgame is far from sight.
 

Washington:

Describing China as an “existential threat” to the US and the world, Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Nikki Haley has claimed Beijing is “preparing for war”.

China has spent half a century plotting to defeat America and in some respects, the Chinese military is already at par with the US armed forces, Ms Haley said in a major policy speech on the economy in the key early primary State of New Hampshire on Friday.

Her speech comes two days after her India-American Republican rival Vivek Ramaswamy delivered a foreign policy speech on China in Ohio. Both Ms Haley and Mr Ramaswamy have emerged as popular GOP candidates after former US president Donald Trump.

“Strength and pride are essential to our national survival, especially in the face of Communist China. China is an existential threat. It has spent half a century plotting to defeat us,” Haley said.

She alleged that China has taken America’s manufacturing jobs.

“It’s taken our trade secrets. Now it’s taking control of critical industries, from medicines to advanced technology. In record time, China has gone from an economically backward country to the second biggest economy on earth,” she said.

“It has every intention of being the first. And the Communist Party’s motives are clear. They’re building a massive, cutting-edge military, capable of threatening America and dominating Asia and beyond,” the former two-term South Carolina governor said.

“In some respects, China’s military is already equal to the US armed forces. In other areas, they’re beating us. China’s leaders are so confident, they’re sending spy balloons into our skies and building a spy base just off our shores in Cuba.

“Make no mistake: The Communist Party is preparing for war. And China’s leaders intend to win,” she claimed.

Sharing her economic plan, Haley said it includes giving real relief and financial freedom to middle-class Americans. Every middle-class family will get thousands of dollars in tax relief, she said.

“No one knows how to use your money better than you, no one. When you make your own choices, you make our economy even stronger,” she said.

“For starters, we’ll completely eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax. That is 18 cents per gallon in savings on gas and 24 cents on diesel. That will help families struggling with record-high gas prices.

“And we don’t need a federal gas tax to fund our roads. We’ll keep building our roads with the trillions Washington still has and we’ll stop diverting money to green giveaways. Road money should build roads, not bike paths and hiking trails,” she added.

If elected president of the country, Ms Haley said, she would also cut income taxes for working families.

She said her administration would also eliminate President Joe Biden’s USD 500 billion in green energy subsidies. “No more cash windfalls for China,” she said.

The former US ambassador to the UN said she would veto any spending bill that doesn’t take the US back to pre-Covid spending levels.

“We’re not talking about 1950s spending levels, we’re talking about just four years ago. We had a massive – and in many ways a foolish – explosion in spending during the pandemic. But the pandemic is over. It’s absurd to keep spending at those same crazy levels,” she said.

“Under my plan, we won’t just have term limits for politicians, we will limit bureaucrats too. No bureaucrat should hold the same position for more than five years.

“This will make them better public servants and avoid the politics and power fiefdoms that corrupt our government. And we should be able to fire those who are not performing. Public service is a privilege, not a right. And no one has a right to roll back your freedom,” Ms Haley said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)