China says Vice-President Han Zheng will attend US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony in Washington on Monday. It will mark the first time that a senior Chinese leader has been present at such an occasion.
China’s foreign ministry made the announcement on Friday morning, three days before the inauguration
According to media reports in November, Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the ceremony.
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“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 relationship and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” said the ministry’s statement.
Diao Daming, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, said that while having a special envoy attend a foreign president’s inauguration was in line with China’s diplomatic practice, the move reflected China’s emphasis on stabilising relations with the US.
“It reflects the great importance that China attaches to stabilising the Sino-US relationship. It sets a good starting point for the next stage of ... relations and it will contribute to further interactions between China and the US,” he said.
Speculation has been rife ahead of Trump’s return to the White House about how he will approach the world’s second-largest economy, after earlier threatening to slap additional tariffs of up to 60 per cent on Chinese goods.
Trump said this month that he has been speaking to Xi through representatives, adding that he believed they would “probably get along very well”.
Meanwhile, China in recent weeks has offered some indication about the tone of its policy towards the incoming administration. In December, Xi said he wanted to “maintain dialogue”, while warning there would be “no winners” in a tariff or tech war.
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has also said that “as long as China and the US cooperate with each other, they can accomplish many great things together”.
In an apparent message to the incoming administration, a commentary in the party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Monday said that the cake of China-US cooperation “can be made bigger”, in a call for “responsible actions for both countries and the world”.
Some observers earlier suggested that the first 100 days of Trump’s second term could serve as an important window of opportunity for the Chinese leadership to foster contact with Trump and avoid an immediate spike in tensions.
Han has represented China at a number of foreign state occasions in recent years. In October, he attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta as Xi’s special representative and was also present at King Charles’ coronation.
Washington records dating back to 1874 show that no foreign heads of state have been involved in a US presidential inauguration, although it is common for foreign dignitaries and diplomats to attend, a practice Beijing has also adopted.
The then ambassador to the US Zhou Wenzhong attended Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 as the Chinese government’s representative. In 2021, Zhou’s successor Cui Tiankai congratulated Joe Biden on taking office but did not indicate whether he attended the ceremony.
But Trump’s inauguration has been shaping into a global event, with guests including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the president of Argentina Javier Milei.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, and his Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya have also confirmed their attendance.
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