Donald Trump has made no secret of his feelings about China. He has accused the rival economic giant of stealing American jobs with nefarious trade policies and sparked a brief diplomatic tiff by calling Taiwan’s premier.
But the Chinese believe they have a way of smoothing the waters — and his name is Jared Kushner.
Chinese officials have assiduously, some might say obsessively, courted the president’s Jewish son-in-law, the New York Times reports.
“Having access to the president’s family and somebody they see as a princeling is even better,” Evan S. Medeiros, a senior director for Asia in the Obama administration, told the paper.
China’s ambassador to the U.S. talks to Kushner regularly and even invited Kushner and his wife, Ivanka, to a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration.
Critics note that Kushner’s family real estate business has extensive ties with Chinese firms — even though a megadeal for 666 Fifth Ave recently fell through.
The buttering up may be working.
Chinese President President Xi Jinping will visit the U.S. this week and scored a coveted invitation to rub elbows with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
