The designation would come with honor guards, a 21-gun salute and a formal welcome on the White House South Lawn.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanted his upcoming trip to the U.S. to be categorized as a “state visit,” the highest tier of diplomatic pageantry.
That quiet fight over a label, more than anything likely to be announced in Washington this week, captures what this summit is really about.
The two sides sparred over what to call the trip before Washington agreed to Beijing’s requests, said people involved in the preparations, marking this the first state visit for the Chinese leader in more than a decade. President Trump is offering the same red carpet treatment Xi gave him in Beijing in May and most of all, a senior White House official said, wants to impress his Chinese counterpart and keep the relationship steady heading into November’s midterm elections.
By insisting that his welcome match the one he gave Trump in Beijing —down to the length of the two-day visit and the state dinner—policy advisers to Beijing said Xi hopes to project the image of a Chinese leader received as an equal by the president of the world’s most powerful country, at a moment when his own hold on power remains firm but the pressures around him are building. What neither man is prepared to do is to give much ground on the disputes that define their relationship: the race to dominate advanced technology, particularly artificial intelligence, and a widening contest for geopolitical influence, officials on both sides said. “The optics seem to be prioritized by both sides, even above the substance,” said Daniel Kritenbrink, a former top State Department official for East Asia now at the Asia Group, a consulting firm. David Perdue, the U.S. ambassador to China, has been heavily involved as an interlocutor between the two governments, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has played an important role, said the people involved in the preparations. The U.S. will be hoping to reaffirm the commitment both sides made earlier this year when Xi hosted Trump in Beijing, particularly on a tariff ceasefire that has kept a trade war from reigniting, another senior White House official said.
For Xi, the stakes are as much domestic as diplomatic. He faces mounting challenges at home: a sputtering economy, a sweeping purge of the military’s top ranks, and a leadership reshuffle expected at next year’s party congress. Even Xi’s health has become a subject of speculation after he unexpectedly skipped a gala dinner on a recent trip to India.
A summit that shows the Chinese leader commanding respect abroad, Kritenbrink said, will play well at home.
