President-elect Trump took China by surprise when he invited President Xi Jinping to his upcoming inauguration, a friendly gesture ahead of a widely expected trade war. 

The move left everyone wondering what Trump was up to — a Chinese head of state has not attended a U.S. inauguration in all of history. 

Xi is not expected to accept the invitation, sources told CBS News. 

"We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship," Trump told CNBC on Friday. "We've been talking and discussing with President Xi some things."

But the invitation comes as the U.S. intelligence community disclosed a massive hack of eight U.S. telecom companies, finding that Chinese hackers had accessed the data of millions of Americans, including Vice President-elect JD Vance.

The hack, nicknamed Salt Typhoon and one of the most far-reaching in history, affected mostly people in the Washington, D.C., area, and was targeted at government-linked people. Information about their phone calls and texts was intercepted. 

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Meanwhile, a Chinese national was arrested on suspicion of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force base in Northern California, the Department of Justice said Wednesday. 

"Many people were disappointed by this invitation," said China expert Gordon Chang.

"A man who is responsible for spreading COVID beyond China borders, for being behind the fentanyl program, which kills 70,000 Americans a year, that was not a good look for the United States," he went on. "And it betrayed weakness."

"The Chinese president looks at that and believes that Trump is not serious," said Chang. 

"Xi Jinping has made it clear that the United States is China's enemy. He's done that in many ways. And for an American president to show friendship is not a gesture in Xi's mind, it's a display of weakness, and Chinese leaders always take advantage of weakness." 

It's not clear if the invitation means that Trump is looking to take a more diplomatic approach to the relationship with China after a campaign marked by threats of hiking tariffs. 

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Trump has floated the idea of a 60% across-the-board levy on all goods imported from China, which would cover some $400 billion worth of products. 

Free trade supporters have worried this would break a top campaign promise for Trump: to rein in and prevent the record inflation figures seen under the Biden administration.

And the threat of a trade war comes as military tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific. China has been putting on displays of force in the waters off the shores of U.S. allies like the Philippines and Japan, and increasingly threatening Taiwan, an island democracy it views as its rightful territory. 

Defense experts have begun to muse whether the U.S. could find itself at war with China.

Lyle Goldstein, Director of Asia Engagement at Defense Priorities think tank, welcomed the news of the invitation, reading it as a sign of being willing to engage.

"Nothing like that has happened under the Biden administration," he said. "Trump is a dealmaker, and I think China is eager to make deals.

"The Biden approach was very ideological, you know, the world is black and white." 

"If we go into a new Cold War, the results, I think, will be devastating for both the United States and China," Goldstein added. "I think there is some understanding in the Trump team that the stakes are enormous here."

China, meanwhile, is considering devaluing its currency further in anticipation of Trump's tariffs, according to a Reuters report. 

"People have got to realize that trading with China generally is a good thing. But yeah, we have to. There are some key readjustments that need to take place," said Goldstein.

"I would like to see that take place from readjusting China's currency."

In the waning days of the Biden administration, President-elect Trump is bucking his predecessor's "don't" doctrine as a deterrent to foreign adversaries, instead issuing tough warnings before even taking office. 

"If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity," Trump warned Hamas on his Truth Social account Monday. 

"Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East – But it’s all talk, and no action!" Trump added. 

War broke out in the Middle East on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. Terrorists killed more than 1,100 people and kidnapped more than 200, with Hamas still holding 101 hostages, including seven Americans, in Gaza more than a year after the war began. 

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The White House and Israeli government have worked for months to secure a hostage release deal, but have been unsuccessful. 

Trump's tough language against Hamas, which included warning those responsible for holding the hostages that they "will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America," stands in stark contrast to President Biden's "don't" doctrine regarding the war in Israel. 

After the war began last year, Biden delivered remarks from Israel where he warned adversaries of Israel and the U.S. "don't" attack Israel. 

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"And my message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel remains the same as it was a week ago: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t," he said. 

War continued despite the warning, including from Iranian proxies against Israel. 

This year, Biden doubled down on his warning of "don't" aimed at Iran. When asked by reporters about Iran's expectation to attack Israel in April, he said his message to Tehran is: "Don't." 

"We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed," he added. 

Again in August, Biden warned Iran against attacking Israel with the one-word threat.  

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Biden's common response to deter foreign adversaries from attacking Israel is viewed as a failed policy, with conservative security experts and others slamming the message as weak. 

"The Administration keeps saying 'don't' to Iran – but then does nothing to impose costs. This weakness means the risk from Iran continues to grow," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in August. 

"Well, he said, ‘Don’t’ multiple times, and ‘Don’t’ isn’t a national security policy," Pompeo added later in a comment to Fox News. "It’s not even a deterrent.

"So much for President Biden telling bad guys ‘Don’t’ actually being an effective deterrent. Every time he says 'Don’t,' they do," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote in a post in April, after Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. 

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"Biden's approach with Iran and the Middle East is backwards," Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on X. "Now as we risk entering WWIII, the US must stand by Israel's commitment to democracy. The president must stand firm, and stop coddling Iran immediately."

"I guess Biden's speechwriters have him down to one word now. At least he can remember it. Worse when referring to the hospital carnage he calls Hamas the other team," Fox News' Greg Gutfeld quipped after the war in Israel broke out last year, mocking Biden's use of the word "don't." 

Trump had campaigned on ending the wars in both Ukraine and Israel, both of which began under the Biden administration, and claimed that neither war would have been launched if he had been president. 

"The Ukraine situation is so horrible, the Israeli situation is so horrible. We are going to get them solved very fast," Trump said on the campaign trail in January. 

Israeli officials celebrated Trump's tough stance against terrorists in the Middle East and his demand for hostages to be released by next month. 

"Thank you and bless you Mr. President-elect," President Isaac Herzog of Israel said in a post on social media. "We all pray for the moment we see our sisters and brothers back home!"

The nation's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, added, "How refreshing it is to hear clear and morally sound statements that do not create a false equivalence or call for addressing ‘both sides.’ This is the way to bring back the hostages: by increasing the pressure and the costs for Hamas and its supporters, and defeating them, rather than giving in to their absurd demands."

Trump will be inaugurated as the nation's 47th president on Jan. 20, with his team celebrating that he's already following through on his campaign promises. 

"President Trump is working towards international peace. In anticipation of the incoming Trump administration, Iran has called off its reprisal attack on Israel and negotiations to end the war in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine have accelerated. One former NATO Supreme Allied Commander says America's enemies are 'concerned, they're nervous – [and] they ought to be,'" the Trump War Room said in an email this week titled "Promises Kept – And President Trump Hasn't Even Been Inaugurated Yet."