Miami
Democratic senator urges Trump to confront Xi over alleged Chinese support to Iran
Elissa Slotkin asked President Donald Trump to make reports about Chinese satellite imagery used by Iran a central issue in his upcoming talks with Xi Jinping. CBS News reported that the request was made in a letter sent Friday.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin is pressing President Donald Trump to raise with Xi Jinping reports that Iran used satellite imagery from Chinese entities in an attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan.
According to CBS News, the Michigan Democrat sent Trump a letter on Friday urging him to make the matter a central topic of discussion when the Chinese president visits the White House next week.
Slotkin pointed to a Wall Street Journal report published last week, citing U.S. officials, that said Tehran obtained images of the base from Chinese companies. In May, the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese satellite firms — Meentropy Technology, The Earth Eye and Chang Guang Satellite Technology — for providing imagery that U.S. authorities said enables Iranian military strikes against American forces in the Middle East.
As cited by CBS News, Slotkin said the reporting showed that Iran acquired high-resolution satellite images of a U.S. base in Jordan before and after an Iranian attack in July that killed three U.S. service members and wounded four others.
The strike hit housing at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan. Those killed were Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, and Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28.
Slotkin also criticized Trump after he said this week, when asked whether he would bring up the issue with Xi, that the Chinese leader had behaved reasonably well. CBS News noted that Trump made that remark last Sunday while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump is set to host Xi at the White House on Sept. 24 for a summit and state dinner. It will be their second face-to-face meeting this year, after talks in Beijing in May, and Xi’s last White House visit was in 2015.
In her letter, Slotkin said China should halt any such support immediately and urged Trump to warn Xi that there would be consequences if Beijing failed to act. CBS News said it had reached out to the White House for comment.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
