Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke with China’s top diplomat on Wednesday about a state visit scheduled for September by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to Washington, where President Trump intends to try to bolster what he sees as a personal friendship the two men are developing.
The fact that the two nations’ top diplomats spent much of a meeting in Manila talking about the visit is the strongest sign yet that the summit is on schedule, despite remarks last week from Mr. Trump blaming China for trying to interfere in American elections.
“It’s just to create the groundwork for another positive visit,” Mr. Rubio said of his talk with Wang Yi after it ended in the evening after more than an hour. “I think President Xi will have a very positive visit when he comes to Washington.”
He said that the two governments were putting in place a board of trade and a separate board of investment, and that more details would be announced during the September summit. The two leaders agreed to establish the groups when Mr. Trump visited Beijing in May, more than half a year after he had to retreat from a trade war he had started with China.
Mr. Rubio told reporters traveling with him that he and Mr. Wang did not talk about Mr. Trump’s recent accusations that China had tried to interfere in U.S. elections, mainly in 2020. The intelligence material that Mr. Trump brought up in a speech last Thursday was not new and had been reviewed by U.S. officials years ago. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia is the main rival that has tried to interfere in American elections.
