Donald Trump invited the president of China, Xi Jinping, to the Inauguration ceremony on January 20th. However, according to the statement made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Vice President of China, Han Zheng, will be the one attending the ceremony. The statement also underlines the readiness to work with the US government to “pursue stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relations.”
Notably, Trump is the first US president to invite world leaders to the Inauguration ceremony. Despite Xi Jinping’s non-attendance, it is believed that sending the Vice President is symbolic since this action will avoid bruising Trump’s ego.
It is interesting that a phone call took place between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on January 17th. According to the elected US president, they talked about trade, fentanyl, and TikTok, as well as other topics, and have agreed to do everything to make the world a “peaceful and safe” place. The Foreign Ministry of China also commented on the dialogue, in which Xi mentioned that two-sided talks are important for both sides and hopes for a good start to USA-China relations during Trump’s second term.
Aside from the above-mentioned, Han Zheng used the Inauguration visit to meet the close circle of Donald Trump – including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with whom he discussed the trade between the US and China and called on American companies to promote it. Apart from this, the Chinese Vice President met with the future US Vice President, JD Vance. They discussed topics such as trade and regional security. According to the Chinese state media, Xinhua, Han Zheng talked about the differences between the two states as well but highlighted the space for cooperation, too.
