Chinese President Xi Jinping will send a high-level envoy to Donald Trump’s inauguration, in an unprecedented move to address friction between countries at the start of the new U. S. administration.
Beijing told Trump’s transition team that the top official would attend instead of Xi, according to several people familiar with the talks. The envoy would also hold talks with Trump’s team, several people said.
Trump prolonged an unusual invitation to XI to attend its inauguration of January 20 in a sign that he intended to resume the type of high -level commitment to the Chinese leader who made his first mandate in the White House.
Beijing is desperate to ease friction with Washington as it braces for a possible serious escalation in trade tensions. Chinese officials struggled to meet Trump advisers in the run-up to November’s US election, raising concern in Beijing that they would be unprepared for any shift on China.
Several people said Xi could send Han Zheng, a vice-president who sometimes stands in for him in ceremonial roles. Another option is foreign minister Wang Yi.
One person familiar with the situation said some Trump advisers wanted Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee who wields much more power than Han or Wang in his capacity as Xi’s right-hand man.
Another user familiar with prospects within the transition team said Trump would not be satisfied if the envoy only talked about Wang or Han, given that he had invited the Chinese leader.
“The Chinese want to send the appropriate official point to start the relationship with the right foot,” the user said.
Wang would not be considered a sufficiently important point because he is ranked between Cai and Han and he is a career diplomat, a Chinese expert said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not comment. The Trump team did not respond to requests for comment.
The presence of any of the officials would not be preceded, since in the past China was represented through its ambassador to Washington.
“Trump is probably deemed too unpredictable for Xi to take the domestic risk of attending in person,” said Dennis Wilder, a former top White House China adviser. “By sending a special envoy of significant stature to get meetings with Trump and his cabinet, Xi can demonstrate that he wishes to get off on the right foot with the Trump administration without risking that he could return home empty-handed or publicly embarrassed.”
Several people said that beyond the ceremonial element, the Chinese envoy would also hold substantive discussions with the new Trump team.
Beijing is bracing for turbulence with Washington, particularly after Trump named a series of China hawks to top national security positions.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s new national security adviser, and his aide Alex Wong are very complicated in China. Trump also nominated Republican U. S. Senator Marco Rubio, one of China’s top vocal hawks in Congress, to be his secretary of state.
Trump said this week that his team is already in contact with Beijing. “We speak through their representatives,” Trump said in an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, when he also blamed China for the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.