President Xi Jinping of China on Saturday sent a message to President Trump wishing him and the first lady a speedy recovery after the pair tested positive for the coronavirus, the latest addition to a growing list of world leaders who have wished the American president well.
In the message to Mr. Trump, Mr. Xi said that he and his wife, Peng Liyuan, “express sympathy and hope you get better soon,” according to a report in The Global Times, a Chinese news outlet controlled by the ruling Communist Party.
The message from the Chinese leader comes as the two men have found themselves increasingly at odds as the coronavirus spread around the world and widened a schism between the two superpowers.
Mr. Trump has been an outspoken critic of China’s handling of the coronavirus, often calling it the “Chinese virus.” He has regularly pointed to its origins in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and its swift spread around the world as a failure by China. In a broadcast at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trump demanded that the global body hold accountable “the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world.”
Leaders around the world have sent messages of support to Mr. Trump since he announced early Friday that he had contracted the virus. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand said on Saturday that she was sending him and the first lady, Melania Trump, “New Zealand’s best wishes for a speedy recovery,” adding that “this is, obviously, a virus that has had a devastating impact.”
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil in a Facebook post late on Friday also wished Mr. Trump well: “You will win and come out stronger, for the good of the USA and the world.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, speaking to reporters on Saturday, said he had “no doubt” that Mr. Trump would “make a very strong recovery.” Mr. Bolsonaro and Mr. Johnson are among a growing list of world leaders who have contracted the virus.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, sent a message of sympathy to Mr. Trump on Saturday, the country’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
“He sincerely hopes that they will recover as soon as possible,” it said in a brief dispatch. “He sent warm greetings to them.”
Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump have met three times, building what both leaders called a special “friendship,” although they have not reached agreement on eliminating the North’s nuclear weapons program.
Source: Read Full Article