Donald trump Swearing-in: While Chinese President Xi Jinping will not personally attend US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, Beijing has made the rare decision to send Vice President Han Zheng as a special representative. This marks a significant departure from tradition, as no senior Chinese official has previously attended a US presidential swearing-in ceremony.
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng is expected to attend 20 January’s inauguration after meeting incoming US Vice President JD Vance Sunday, in a trip observers say is a significant – but potentially risky – goodwill gesture as Beijing looks to avert major friction with Donald Trump and his incoming cabinet of China hawks.
Earlier China said, “We stand ready to work with the new US government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relations and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other”.
Who is Chinese Vice President Han Zheng?
While Han Zheng is the most senior Chinese official to attend a US inauguration, his position of vice president is largely symbolic within China’s political system.
True authority lies with the ruling Communist Party’s powerful Politburo Standing Committee, from which Han Zheng retired in 2022.
But sending a high-profile official – and one who has previously represented Xi Jinping at international events including the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III – signals Beijing’s interest in a reset of fraught relations between the US and China, observers say.
Han Zheng’s arrival in the US follows a phone call between Xi and Trump on Friday, where the Chinese leader congratulated Trump on his reelection and called for a new start in relations.
Han has used the visit to meet with members of the American business community, including Tesla CEO and close Trump associate Elon Musk, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua.
China’s Han and US Vice President JD Vance discussed a “range of topics including fentanyl, balancing trade, and regional stability” in their meeting, the Trump-Vance transition team said in a statement on Sunday.
