Donald Trump said he would “get along great with China,” recalling a moment with President Xi Jinping on a “beautiful sofa” at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Thursday.
At his Florida estate, the former president gave his press conference since the announcement of the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket on Tuesday for the Democrat party.
Responding to a question about combatting the spread of misinformation, he said, “You have a lot of misinformation spread about China, and you have a lot of misinformation spread about a lot of different places. I think I’m going to get along great with China. President Xi of China and I are very good friends, we met right here, right there.”
The former president then pointed to the area in front of him where reporters were positioned.
He added, “We had a beautiful sofa there. As opposed to what we have right now. Right now we have you.”
Andy Wong/AP
Trump went on to say that President Xi and he had a good relationship until the outbreak of COVID-19, predicting they would once again have a positive relationship if he were re-elected.
“I held him responsible for COVID and broke our relationship, but I think we’re going to have a great relationship and I think it’s going to be mutually beneficial, but we cannot have it when China is taking advantage of the Unites States, and that’s what they were doing as you very well know,” he said.
In January 2020 Politico reported that then-President Trump said his relationship with China’s leader had “probably” never been better during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Per the outlet, he said, “Our relationship with China has now probably never, ever been better…He’s for China, I’m for the U.S., but other than that, we love each other.”
According to Politico, days before the U.S. recorded its first COVID-19 death, the former president praised China’s government for its transparency and work to defeat the virus. The outlet also compiled a list of 15 times Trump advocated China’s work in trying to prevent the spread of the disease in the early months of 2020.
He subsequently changed his outlook, repeatedly referring to COVID-19 as a “Chinese virus,” sparking accusations of racism.
In August 2020, Trump revealed it had been a while since he’d spoken to President Xi in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, telling Fox Sports Radio, “I had a great relationship with President Xi. I like him, but I don’t feel the same way now,” Reuters reported.
The former president and the Chinese leader have been contacted by Newsweek for comment.
On August 17, COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in the U.S., where deaths exceeded 1,000 per day and nationwide cases exceeded 5.4 million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
While Trump has been advocating for his relationship with the Chinese leader, some Chinese netizens have shown their approval of the announcement of Walz being the Democratic running mate.
Governor Walz, of Minnesota, has connections to China, having taught at a Chinese high school in Foshan City, in the southeastern province of Guangdong, from 1989 to 1990. He has said the U.S. should stand firm on Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, while expressing his support for finding common ground with the superpower when possible.
Walz’s approval rating has surged since he was announced as Vice President Harris‘ running mate, although Trump‘s pick Ohio Senator JD Vance‘s have declined, a YouGov survey showed.
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