Chinese President to Visit U.S. in July; 1st Such Trip

China and the White House announced Wednesday that President Li Xiannian will visit the United States beginning July 22. It will be the first official U.S. tour by a president of the People’s Republic of China.

The trip will be the first top-level exchange since President Reagan visited China in April, 1984, and invited Li to make a return tour.

In Washington, the White House announced Li’s visit in a brief statement. It said only that Li has accepted Reagan’s invitation and that the Chinese leader will meet with Reagan at the White House on July 23.

Li will first visit Canada on July 14, Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Zhaoxing said at a regular weekly news briefing.

Li, 76, will lead a delegation including his wife, Lin Jiamei, Vice Premier Li Peng and State Councilor Ji Pengfei.

Will Last a Week

The Chinese spokesman and U.S. Embassy spokesman Anthony Sariti would not say how long Li’s visit to the United States would last, but U.S. diplomats privately said it would be about a week.

Li became president in 1983 after the post was restored following a 16-year lapse. The previous president was Liu Shao-chi, who was ousted in 1967 after he was branded a “capitalist roader” by the Communist Party radicals who then ran China.

In the six years since diplomatic ties were established between Peking and Washington, two other top Chinese leaders have visited the United States: senior leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 and Premier Zhao Ziyang early last year.

Enemies in the Korean and Vietnam wars, the United States and China have developed a broad relationship in economic cooperation. Two-way trade in 1984 amounted to a record $6.1 billion, and the 1985 level is expected to exceed $7 billion.

The Reagan Administration has eased restrictions on the flow of U.S. high technology to China and signed an agreement with Peking on the avoidance of double taxation.

But strains persist because of U.S. sales of weapons to the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan. The United States broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 when it normalized relations with China, but it continues to permit military sales to the Nationalists.