With Donald Trump's shock victory in the U.S. presidential election still reverberating around the world, President Xi Jinping's regime is carefully seeking to placate the fiery advocate of tough policies toward China.
On the campaign trail, Trump harshly condemned China's trade practices and vowed to designate China as a country manipulating its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage. He also pledged to levy import tariffs of as high as 45% on Chinese products.
Trump, a 70-year-old property tycoon and Republican outsider, defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. He is to be inaugurated as president in January, taking over from Democrat Barack Obama.
The U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies, are at odds over many issues, especially regarding freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. In fact, a number of countries circling the body of water are at odds with China regarding its claims there.
While alarmed by Trump's anti-China rhetoric, the Xi regime is now looking at the sea change on the other side of the Pacific as an opportunity to thaw strained relations.
Instead of simply weathering the diplomatic storm, the Communist Party-ruled country is trying to wriggle out of it.
The Xi regime has mobilized China's diplomatic mission in the U.S. and domestic think tanks in a desperate attempt to work out measures to appease the incoming U.S. president and put China in as favorable a diplomatic position as possible.
According to sources familiar with international relations, senior Chinese officials have already gone behind the scenes to get in touch with Trump and members of his inner circle.
Xi also held a telephone conversation with Trump, before Russian President Vladimir Putin did.
Xi sent a congratulatory message to Trump on Nov. 9, then spoke with him via telephone on Nov. 14. A careful look at what was said shows two noteworthy developments.
From: http://asia.nikkei.com/Features/China-up-close/Xi-Jinping-moves-to-appease-Donald-Trump
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