The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on September 13, 2017, that the visit of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to China may have been cancelled because some officials in the White House decided the couple were not suitable to make preparations for US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. US President Trump's visit to China is scheduled for November 2017. The SCMP quoted Douglas Paal, Vice President for Studies in the Asia Programme at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, as saying that General John Kelly, the Chief of Staff of the White House, did not think Kushner would be an appropriate channel even though he helped to establish contacts between China and US officials in the past. He said the preparation for Trump’s visit should be made through appropriate channels, for example, through Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi. He said “Channels need to be maintained by responsible and accountable officials.” Meanwhile, during a stop-over visit to Washington, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he stopped over in Washington on September 12, 2017.
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