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Chinese President Xi Jinping will send a high-level envoy to Donald Trump's inauguration, in an unprecedented move designed to ease tensions between the countries at the start of the new US administration.
Beijing has told Trump's transition team that a senior official will replace Xi, according to several people familiar with the talks. The envoy will hold talks with Trump's team, multiple people said.
Trump extended an unusual invitation to Xi to attend his inauguration on January 20 in a sign that he intends to resume the kind of high-level engagement with the Chinese leader that he conducted during his first term in the White House.
Beijing is desperate to ease tensions with Washington as it prepares for a sharp increase in trade. Chinese officials are scrambling to meet with Trump's advisers ahead of the November US election, raising concerns in Beijing that they will not be open to any changes. in China.
Several people said Xi could send Han Zheng, the vice president who sometimes represents him in ceremonial roles. Another option is foreign minister Wang Yi.
A person familiar with the situation said others Trump Advisers want Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee who has more power than Han or Wang in his position as Xi's right-hand man.
One person familiar with the views within the transition group said there was concern that Trump would not be happy if the envoy was only at the level of Wang or Han when he invited the Chinese leader.
“The Chinese should send the right level of official to start the relationship off on the right foot,” the person said.
Wang would not be considered high-ranking enough because he ranked under Cai and Han and was a career diplomat, said one Chinese expert.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not comment. Trump's team did not respond to requests for comment.
The presence of any officials would be unprecedented, as China was previously represented by its own ambassador in Washington.
“Trump is probably considered too unlikely for Xi to take the domestic risk of going it alone,” said Dennis Wilder, a former White House China adviser. “By sending a special envoy to get meetings with Trump and his cabinet, Xi can show that he wishes to get off on the right foot in the Trump administration without running the risk of returning home empty-handed or publicly humiliated.”
Several people said that beyond the event, the Chinese envoy will hold major talks with Trump's new team.
Beijing is facing an uproar with Washington, especially after Trump named a series of China hawks to top national security posts.
Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, and his deputy Alex Wong are both considered to be very hard on China. Trump has also named Republican US Senator Marco Rubio, the most prominent congressional China hawk, to be his secretary of state.
Trump said this week that his team has been in contact with Beijing. “We were talking about their representatives,” Trump said in an interview with radio show Hugh Hewitt, when he blamed China for the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.