Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, but he is sending his vice president, Han Zheng, as his special representative.
The decision, announced Friday in China by the Foreign Ministry, comes more than a month after Trump extended an unusual invitation to Xi, a break with tradition since no head of state has yet made a visit official in the United States for the inauguration.
“We are ready to work with the new US government to strengthen dialogue and communication, properly handle differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue stable, healthy and lasting China-US relations, and find the right path for two countries get along well with each other,” the ministry spokesperson said when announcing the decision.
Other foreign leaders discussed inviting Trump to the inauguration, including Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The offices of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña also said they had been invited and planned to attend.
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said Xi’s decision meant that “China is willing to abandon the protocol and respond to what Trump wants.”
“This indicates that China is willing to talk, negotiate and make efforts to reach agreements,” Sun wrote.
Danny Russell, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Beijing was protecting itself by sending Han instead of Xi.
“Zero chance that Xi Jinping will allow himself to be used as a potted plant during the triumphant coronation of Donald Trump. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that China shows enough courtesy to avoid hurting Trump’s ego,” Russell wrote. Han’s mission, the former US diplomat said, was “symbolic and not substantive.”
Han’s dispatch comes as the rivalry between the United States and China is poised to intensify. Several of Trump’s nominees for key cabinet positions are known China hawks, including Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who was nominated for secretary of state.
Rubio called China “the most powerful, most dangerous and closest adversary this nation has ever faced” during his confirmation hearing Wednesday, when members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged Rubio to make the fight against China a top priority.
Beijing prefers leadership-level negotiations, which it says could help guide bilateral relations, while Trump prefers to deal directly with world leaders.
As president, Xi has traveled abroad for state visits and summits. But he did not attend the coronation of King Charles III, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II or the memorial service of Nelson Mandela.
