US President Donald Trump has proposed a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in order to resolve the Hong Kong problem “quickly and humanely.”
“Personal meeting?” Trump tweeted on Wednesday afternoon, calling Xi a “a great leader who very much has the respect of his people” and a “good man in a tough business.”
I know President Xi of China very well. 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?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2019
The offer comes in the context of Trump’s earlier tweets about the Sino-US trade relations, which remain tense following months of tariff wars. Earlier, Trump announced he would be delaying till December his proposed tariffs on the remaining Chinese imports, so as to create space for a trade deal with Beijing.
“Millions of jobs are being lost in China to other non-tariffed countries. Thousands of companies are leaving. Of course China wants to make a deal. Let them work humanely with Hong Kong first!” Trump tweeted.
Protests in Hong Kong erupted at the end of March, over the proposed bill to allow extradition of criminal suspects from the autonomous city to the mainland. Although the bill has been suspended, the protesters have moved on to demand “freedom, human rights and democracy.”
Some protesters have even brandished US flags, leading Chinese authorities and media to accuse the US of fomenting a “color revolution” in the former British colony, returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
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