Han Zheng: Is the Chinese leader attending Trump’s inauguration?

As president, Xi never attended the inauguration or coronation, choosing instead to send a representative on his behalf. China’s ambassador to the United States attended the last two presidential inaugurations in 2017 and 2021.

Beijing has sent vice presidents to such ceremonies elsewhere, but Khan attended the October 2023 inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. His predecessor, Wang Qishan, participated in the swearing-in ceremony of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Brazilian President Lula Silva in 2022. In 2023.

Neil Thomas said Xi’s decision to send Han to the United States is a sign that he “wants to get Trump into bargaining mode, but (he) doesn’t want to be a supporting actor on the Trump show on Jan. 20.” China Policy Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute.

Other foreign leaders invited to the inauguration include Argentine President Javier Miley and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Trump’s spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told US media that the invitation to Xi “is an example of Trump creating an open dialogue with the leaders of countries that are not only our allies, but also our enemies and rivals.”

Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said it could be Trump’s attempt to show the world that he has the ability to influence Xi’s decision-making and that they have a special relationship.

Earlier reports suggested that some of Trump’s advisers wanted Cai Qi to participate. Known as Xi’s right-hand man, Cai, 66, sits on the Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, China’s equivalent of the cabinet.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed insider as saying that Trump would be “unhappy” if the Chinese representative was “only at the level of Han or (Foreign Minister) Wang Yi.” The BBC could not confirm these claims.

Chong Ja-Ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie, said that as vice president, Han, 70, “has a very large role in the Chinese state system” and that the decision to send him is “courtesy of Trump” to China.