Chinese delegation open to meeting Trump’s team at Davos

BEIJING — A Chinese official says President Xi Jinping’s delegation to the World Economic Forum is open to meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s team during next week’s gathering in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos.

Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday (Jan 11) that “there are open channels of communication” with Mr Trump’s team.

He says bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the annual gathering of business leaders and politicians are still being finalised, but China would look into what sort of arrangements could be made “as long as the schedule permits and if there is the wish”.

Mr Trump has accused China of unfair trade practises and threatened punishing tariffs and upended diplomatic protocol by speaking by phone with Taiwan’s president. AP