January 16, 2025, 5:46 p. m.
Chinese vice president Han Zheng attends an assembly with the British Chancellor of the Treasury Rachel Reeves in the great people’s hall of Beijing, Saturday, January 11, 2025. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo Ap) Credit: Associated Press
(Florence Lo/Pool Photo AP)
By Associated Press
Washington (AP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping, will attend the inauguration of the elected president Donald Trump, however, sends the vice president Han Zheng as a special representative.
The decision, announced Friday in China through the Foreign Ministry, came here more than a month after Trump extended the invitation to XI, a departure from tradition, as no head of state has made an official stop to the United States for the inauguration.
“We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relations and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” the ministry’s spokesperson said when announcing the decision.
Other foreign leaders have spoken about being invited to Trump’s inauguration, including Argentinian President Javier Milei and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni. The offices of Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña have also said they were invited and were planning to attend.
Sun Yun, director of the Chinese program in the center of Think Tank, founded on Washington, said that XI’s resolution means that “China is in a position to renounce the protocol and respond to what Trump wants. “
“This indicates that China is in a position to speak, negotiate and make efforts to conclude the agreements,” Sun wrote.
The shipment of have occurs while the American-China rivalry deserves to intensify. Several of Trump applicants for the wardrobe are the Falcons of China, adding Senator Marco Rubio de Florida, who is appointed Secretary of State. Rubio described China as “the maximum powerful, maximum harmful and closer to this country, has faced” its confirmation audience on Wednesday, when the members of the Senatorial Relations Committee suggested to Rubio to make China an absolute priority.
Beijing prefers discussions at the point of the leaders, who, he said, can only consult bilateral relations, while Trump likes to deal directly with global leaders.
As president, Xi has traveled abroad for state visits and summits. But he did not attend the coronation of King Charles III, nor did he go to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II or the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Instead, he sent vice presidents. Han was his special representative for King Charles III’s coronation. When Trump invited Xi to the inauguration in December, it was widely believed that Xi was unlikely to come.
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Associated Press Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.