Chinese President Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump, Xinhua reported.

The agency wrote: “Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Vice President Han Zheng would attend Trump’s inauguration.

Last November, during a meeting with outgoing US President Joe Biden, the Chinese president said China was ready to work with the new US administration.

Xi stressed that Beijing remains committed to maintaining a ‘healthy and stable’ relationship with Washington.

Trump’s previous presidency was marked by a ‘trade war’ with Beijing, the latest developments of which were US threats to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese steel, aluminium and electric cars.

For its part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that Washington should choose dialogue over confrontation in its relations with Beijing.