--- title: Donald Trump Sends Xi Jinping of China a Letter description: President Donald Trump sent China's President Xi Jinping a letter saying he wants to have a constructive relationship with Beijing canonical: https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T17:26:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:39.135Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Sent China a Letter That Looks Forward to a 'Constructive Relationship' og:description: Trump sent his Chinese counterpart a letter, though they have not spoken yet og:url: https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f630510f1b0abd/6988b983097b906a5d9b8d59/china-president-xi-jinping-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: china president xi jinping donald trump letter og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Sent China a Letter That Looks Forward to a 'Constructive Relationship' twitter:description: Trump sent his Chinese counterpart a letter, though they have not spoken yet twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f630510f1b0abd/6988b983097b906a5d9b8d59/china-president-xi-jinping-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Sent China a Letter That Looks Forward to a 'Constructive Relationship' ## Video: China’s State Media Has Been Mocking Donald Trump’s ‘Unpresidented’ Tweet [Watch (HLS stream): China’s State Media Has Been Mocking Donald Trump’s ‘Unpresidented’ Tweet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jqj3YIEp.m3u8) (0:57)  _Published 2016-12-18. China’s state media has again questioned the leadership qualities of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, gleefully highlighting the misspelling of the word unprecedented in a tweet he sent._  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Feb 9, 2017 5:26 PM UTC  President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping on November 22, 2016, Santiago, Chile. President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping on November 22, 2016, Santiago, Chile.Agencia Makro/CON—LatinContent/Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Feb 9, 2017 5:26 PM UTC President Donald Trump [sent China’s President Xi Jinping](http://fortune.com/2017/02/08/trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/) a letter saying he looks forward to having a “constructive relationship” with Beijing, the White House said in a statement. In the letter, Trump also thanked Xi for having sent congratulations on his inauguration, which took place 19 days before he sent the letter Wednesday. He [also wished](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/09/call-me-maybe-president-trump-reaches-out-to-chinas-xi-in-a-letter/) China’s people a “happy Lantern Festival and prosperous Year of the Rooster,” three days ahead of the Lantern Festival but nearly two weeks after China celebrated the New Year. Trump [has not spoken with Xi since becoming President](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/world/asia/donald-trump-china-xi-jinping-letter.html), and the delay has been notable given Trump’s conversations with [at least 18 other](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/09/call-me-maybe-president-trump-reaches-out-to-chinas-xi-in-a-letter/) world leaders. Recent custom has seen the U.S. President send greetings for the Chinese New Year on time, the Washington _Post_ reports. Trump [spent much of his campaign](http://time.com/4509121/china-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump/) railing against China, and he has not said if he intends to take a more conciliatory approach to the world power as President. The White House did not specify whether Trump would follow up on the letter with a conversation with China’s leader or if this letter will substitute for the traditional introductory conversation. “You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product,” Trump [said in his opening statement](http://time.com/4508768/presidential-debate-trump-clinton-transcript/) at the first Presidential debate. “They’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China.” \[[_Reuters_](http://fortune.com/2017/02/08/trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/"},"headline":"President Trump Sent China a Letter That Looks Forward to a 'Constructive Relationship'","datePublished":"2017-02-09T17:26:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:39.135Z","description":"Trump sent his Chinese counterpart a letter, though they have not spoken yet","url":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/","keywords":["White House","China","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f630510f1b0abd/6988b983097b906a5d9b8d59/china-president-xi-jinping-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92f630510f1b0abd/6988b983097b906a5d9b8d59/china-president-xi-jinping-donald-trump-letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"china president xi jinping donald trump letter","caption":"china president xi jinping donald trump letter","creditText":"Agencia Makro/CON—LatinContent/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/","name":"President Trump Sent China a Letter That Looks Forward to a 'Constructive Relationship'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"China’s State Media Has Been Mocking Donald Trump’s ‘Unpresidented’ Tweet","description":"China’s state media has again questioned the leadership qualities of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, gleefully highlighting the misspelling of the word unprecedented in a tweet he sent.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jqj3YIEp/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-18T16:48:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jqj3YIEp.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/","duration":"PT57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4665506/donald-trump-xi-jinping-china-letter/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```