Is Jared Kushner The Surest Path To Trump’s Ear? China Thinks So.
By Dave Goldiner April 2, 2017
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.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
