US President Donald Trump has offered a ‘personal meeting’ with China’s President Xi Jinping to resolve the Hong Kong crisis and also warned China to focus on working ‘humanely’ to the protests before striking a trade deal with US.
“I know President Xi of China very well,” Trump said on Wednesday. “He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a ‘tough business.’ I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?”
Earlier in a tweet, Trump said that China should focus on working humanely with Hong Kong before reaching a trade deal with the United States.
Trump also said that good things were stated in a phone call with China the other day and that postponing the imposition of tariffs until December would actually help Beijing, “but will be reciprocated.”
On Tuesday, the US Trade Representative announced that the United States will postpone the decision to implement an additional 10 per cent tariffs on some Chinese imports until December 15.
People in Hong Kong took to the streets in early June to protest against the adoption of a bill that would allow the extradition of suspects to jurisdictions without a prior extradition agreement with the territory, including Mainland China.
The escalation of anti-government mass protests in Hong Kong has resulted in a shutdown of its international airport over the past two days and violent confrontations with police. Although the government soon agreed to suspend the bill, people are demanding that it be withdrawn completely.
The United States and China have been engaged in a trade war since June 2018, when Trump announced he was imposing tariffs on 50 billion dollar worth of Chinese imports in a bid to balance the trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have imposed several rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs and have yet to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal.
(UNI)
