WASHINGTON — He has accused China of hacking America’s elections and plundering its wealth, yet President Donald Trump has showered the visiting Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, with tributes and affection during their summit meeting this week at the White House. Trump met his Chinese counterpart on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, outside Washington on Wednesday rather than wait back at the White House for an official greeting. It’s the first time he has ever shown a visiting world leader that courtesy.
Trump rolled out a red carpet not once but twice for Xi. The leaders walked side by side down a 100-foot-long red carpet after Xi’s Air China plane landed at Andrews. Another red carpet was laid out Thursday morning when Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived at the White House for the summit’s first full day.
In the evening, Trump feted Xi at a state dinner whose menu included sesame-crusted sea bass and braised bok choy, followed by a dessert of vanilla crémeux and honey ice cream. President Trump in landmark meeting with China’s leader “As the leaders of our two nations, President Xi and I both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure, and we’ve never gotten along better since the first trade ships from New York left the harbor to arrive on the banks of the Pearl River,” Trump said at the dinner. He gave his guest a statue of a bald eagle as a gift.
All the pomp and ceremony might appear unusual given Trump’s past complaints that China has meddled in elections and exploited the U.S. through trade. Just two months ago, Trump gave a rare primetime speech asserting that China interfered in the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. But Trump, who has long believed that personal relationships are key to managing geopolitical tensions, has set out to charm the Chinese leader.
Xi struck a cordial tone in his remarks, saying he and Trump have developed a “personal rapport and stayed in touch.” He also made an announcement certain to delight American children and anyone who has ever logged on to a panda-cam feed for a respite from life’s pressures: China will soon send two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shang, to the Atlanta zoo, Xi said. In an unusual rebuke from a member of Trump’s own party, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor that, “quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States of America, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.” China may also have aided Iran in the war with the U.S.
An F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran in April was most likely hit by a Chinese-made shoulder-launched missile, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News. And in the early days of the seven-month-old conflict, China may have given Iran radar capabilities to help spot stealth aircraft, according to one of the people and a U.S. official with knowledge of the matter. Honoring the leader of the world’s largest communist country may also undercut an argument Trump has made to discredit Democrats in the midterm elections.
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