Who is China sending to Trump’s inauguration?
China is sending Vice President Han Zheng to US President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday – the first time a senior Chinese leader will watch a US president take the oath.
Trump had also invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, among other leaders – breaking tradition, as foreign leaders do not traditionally attend US presidential inaugurations.
China has said it wants to work with the new US government to “find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other in the new era”.
But Beijing is also preparing for a Trump presidency that is expected to include New tariffs on China-made imports More belligerent rhetoric – Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio has described China as “America’s largest, most advanced rival by far.”
As President, Xi never attended any inauguration or coronation ceremonies, instead choosing to send a representative on his behalf. The Chinese ambassador to the US attended the last two presidential inaugurations in 2017 and 2021.
Beijing has sent vice presidents to such ceremonies elsewhere, however – Han attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in October 2023. And his predecessor, Wang Qishan, was present for the inaugurations of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Brazilian President Lula da Silva in 2022. In 2023.
Xi’s decision to send Han to the US signals that he “wants to get Trump into deal-making mode, but (he) doesn’t want to be a supporting actor on the Trump show on January 20,” says Neil Thomas. Fellow in Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Other foreign leaders invited to the inauguration include Argentinian President Javier Meili and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Trump spokeswoman Carolyn Levitt told US media that the invitation to Xi was “an example of Trump’s open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not only our allies but our adversaries and our competitors”.
It could also be an attempt by Trump to show the world that “he has the ability to influence Xi’s decision-making and that they have a special relationship,” says Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.
Earlier reports had revealed that some Trump advisers wanted Cai Qi to join. Cai, 66, widely seen as Xi’s right-hand man, 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 envoys in attendance were “only at the level of Han or (Foreign Minister) Wang Yi”. The BBC has been unable to confirm these claims.
But as vice president, Han, 70, “plays a very senior role in the Chinese state system” and the decision to send him was “courtesy of Trump,” says Chong Ja-ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie. China.
Han, who was appointed vice president in March 2023, is known as “Number Eight” – the most senior leader after the seven people on the Politburo Standing Committee.
Han also remains a member until October 2022, when Xi begins a historic third term in power appointed his most trusted representatives For top jobs.
Before this, Han spent most of his political career in Shanghai, where he was born. In 2007, she served as Xi Jinping’s aide when he was Party Secretary in Shanghai, before taking up the post herself later in 2012.
Foreign affairs have been his main focus during his tenure as Vice President. He led a group to promote the Belt and Road Initiative – a major Chinese trade and infrastructure project – and led a steering committee on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
But the fact that Han no longer sits on the Politburo Standing Committee may have been an important consideration in Beijing’s decision to send him.
“From the party’s perspective, if US-China relations deteriorate, Xi and the party will be able to show that they have maintained some distance from Trump,” Professor Chong said.
And it also helps that Han is not considered part of Xi’s inner circle, according to Mr. Thomas.
“Xi trusts Han enough to carry out this mission but Han is not a key ally and can safely be blamed if this goes embarrassingly wrong.”
Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring’s Ian Tang
