Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to pay his first state visit to the United States later this year, a Chinese state-run newspaper reported Monday, citing China’s ambassador to the U.S., Ciu Tiankai.
The U.S. and China have been making arrangements for Xi’s planned visit, but no exact date has been set yet, the China Daily quoted Ciu as saying.
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice told reporters in Washington on Friday that the U.S. invited Xi for a state visit.
Rice also said the U.S. invited South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indonesian President Joko Widodo to the White House this year at a time when Washington is shifting its economic and military focus to the Asia-Pacific region.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons program remains at the top of the bilateral agenda between the U.S. and China.
U.S. President Barack Obama last met Xi in Beijing last November during which they vowed to achieve “complete denuclearization” of North Korea. (Yonhap)
