China invited to join Trump’s Board of Peace

BEIJING – China on Jan 20 confirmed that it had been asked to join

US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace

, an invitation that Washington had extended to dozens of countries in his bid to launch a global initiative aimed at resolving conflicts.

But Beijing, which recently struck a

delicate trade truce with Washington

, stopped short of saying whether it would accept or decline the invitation.

Governments from around the world have so far reacted cautiously to Mr Trump’s invitation to join the initiative, which diplomats say could undermine the United Nations.

The initiative would kick off by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other situations. The initiative’s board would be chaired for life by Mr Trump. Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they paid US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) each.

“The Chinese side has received the invitation from the US,” said Mr Guo Jiakun, a spokesman at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a regular news conference.

He declined to comment when asked if China would accept the invitation.

Asked how China would evaluate Mr Trump’s presidency in the past year, especially in light of his stance on Venezuela and threat to annex Greenland, the spokesman refrained from giving an assessment.

“Over the past year, China-US relations have experienced ups and downs, but have achieved overall dynamic stability,” said Mr Guo, explaining that occasional variability in their relationship could be expected.

China is willing to work with the US on further stabilising ties while safeguarding its own interests, Mr Guo said. REUTERS