A White House official announced on March 20 (local time) that U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit China from March 31 to April 2. Reuters reported that this announcement comes amid escalating tensions between the world's two largest economies.

President Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of his extended visit to China, and the two sides are considering whether to extend the trade truce that halted tariff increases, according to an official who requested anonymity.

Speaking to foreign leaders on Thursday, President Trump said about his visit to China, "It's going to be a tremendous visit," and added, "They've got to show us the greatest welcome in the history of China."

This visit will be the first meeting between the two leaders since February and the first face-to-face meeting since the summit in October, where President Trump agreed to lower tariffs on Chinese products on the condition that China strengthens its crackdown on the illegal trade of Chinese fentanyl, resumes purchases of U.S. soybeans, and continues to export rare earth minerals.

While the sensitive issue of Taiwan was largely avoided during the October summit, President Xi raised the issue of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in February.

Washington announced a historic arms sale deal with Taiwan in December, which includes $11.1 billion worth of weaponry that could be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan anticipates further such sales.

China considers Taiwan its territory, but Taiwan rejects this. The United States has official diplomatic relations with China but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan and is its largest supplier of weapons.

The United States is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with the necessary means to defend itself.

By NNP=Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter / Special Correspondent for this newspaper NNP info@newsandpost.com