China rattled by Trump White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi visit. It has happened before
Sources say little progress has been made on deliverables for Xi Jinping’s first state visit to the US since 2015
Just months ago, disorganised planning from Washington in the lead-up to US President Donald Trump’s landmark China visit frustrated Chinese officials. Now, Beijing is watching the same story play out on the other side of the world.
With less than six weeks until Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to Washington – his first state visit since 2015 – Beijing finds itself increasingly unsettled by the chaos within the Trump administration.
Sources told the South China Morning Post that Chinese officials were once again confronting a disorganised Trump administration that lacked planning and coordination, with little progress made on hammering out deliverables for the leaders’ summit.
This time, according to the sources, the anxiety runs deeper as the summit will take place on foreign soil.
One person with knowledge of the preparations said that no US official or agency had thus far assumed responsibility for organising the visit, leaving officials on both sides largely engaged in routine preparations without clear leadership.
As was the case with Trump’s trip to Beijing, when the Treasury Department and US Trade Representative played the central roles, the State Department has so far remained largely uninvolved.
Two people familiar with the thinking on the Chinese side suggested the issues appeared operational, logistical and optics-related, as neither side had high expectations of achieving anything substantive from the September summit.
The only concrete item on the agenda being discussed is a roughly US$30 billion tariff reduction for Chinese goods as a targeted concession.
Chinese officials are particularly sensitive to the dynamics because protocol, venue and public messaging will be largely controlled by the White House, leaving Beijing with less ability to manage the optics or limit surprises.
Sources attributed the slow practical planning to internal deliberations within Trump’s inner circle, where disagreements persist over the tone and framing of the visit.
White House advisers like Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung are pushing Trump to project superiority, while others expect the US leader to ease things over with Xi.
All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly on the matter.
Trump earlier floated September 24 as the date for Xi’s White House visit, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month indicating that the visit remained on track.
The Chinese leader’s trip comes at a time when the world’s two largest economies are trying to steady ties following the May summit in Beijing, at which Xi and Trump agreed to build what they called a constructive relationship of strategic stability.
That stabilisation has been tested recently, as the two countries trade a series of tit-for-tat measures.
US officials have framed the September summit as one of up to four possible meetings between the two leaders this year, and as a chance to stabilise relations and advance cooperation. But the May summit – billed the same way – produced few concrete takeaways.
And it may well be the same this time. According to the sources, a lack of progress has irritated Chinese officials, with one source saying: “There’s not much happening in terms of planning on deliverables.”
Ali Wyne, a senior research and advocacy adviser on US-China relations at the International Crisis Group, said Chinese officials might be anxious about the apparent lack of planning on the American side because Xi was meeting Trump at a “sensitive juncture” in the US president’s term.
“Trump bristles at the perception that he is losing control of events at home and abroad, and Xi’s advisers may fear that, in an attempt to restore US leverage vis-a-vis China, he will consider making a surprise policy announcement that catches Xi off guard on Trump’s home turf.”