China’s Vice President Han Zheng will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president, marking the first time a senior Chinese leader will directly witness the inauguration of a US president.
It is not customary in the US to invite foreign leaders to presidential inaugurations. However, Trump has broken with tradition and invited many world leaders to his inauguration. Chinese President Xi Jinping is on the list.
China has said it wants to work with the new US administration to “find the right way to ensure mutually beneficial relations between the two countries in this new era.”
China is also preparing for Trump’s second term as US president. He is expected to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump’s nominee for the next US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has called China “the biggest and most advanced adversary of the United States so far.”
As Chinese president, Xi has never attended an inauguration or inauguration abroad; instead, he has sent a representative on his behalf. The Chinese ambassador to the United States attended the inaugurations of US presidents in 2017 and 2021.
In other countries, China’s vice president is usually sent to such events. Han attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in October 2023. His predecessor, Wang Qishan, attended the inaugurations of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022 and Brazilian President Lula da Silva in 2023.
Neil Thomas, a fellow on China politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, believes that by sending Han to the United States, Xi wants to create a conciliatory mindset in Trump. But he does not want to be a co-star at Trump’s inauguration.
Earlier, several news reports said that some of Trump’s advisers were hoping for the Chinese side to include Cai Qiu, widely known as Xi’s right-hand man. The 66-year-old leader is on the Communist Party’s seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the equivalent of China’s cabinet.
The Financial Times, citing an unnamed Trump camp source, said that Trump would be “unhappy” if only Han or someone of the level of Foreign Minister Wang Yi were to attend the ceremony as China’s representative. The BBC could not verify the veracity of such statements.
However, Zhong Zai-yan, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie China think tank, believes that Han, 70, holds a very senior role in the Chinese government as vice president. The decision to send him was made as a courtesy to Trump.
Han took office as vice president of China in March 2023. He is ranked after seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, meaning he is the eighth-highest ranking leader in the ruling party. Han was a member of the Politburo until October 2022.
