China said Friday that Vice President Han Zheng will attend U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday.
Beijing said the move follows “the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in viewing and growing its relationship with the United States.”
“We stand ready to work with the new U.S. government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship and find the right way for the two countries to get along with each other,” a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said in a Friday morning statement.
The announcement comes more than a month after Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign leaders to attend his inauguration. It is an unprecedented move that marks a break from tradition, since foreign ambassadors have historically attended presidential inaugurations.
Analysts say Beijing is showing “goodwill” toward the new Trump administration by sending Han.
“China has no established tradition of letting the president attend other heads of state’s inauguration ceremonies,” said Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“Sending the vice president to attend Trump’s inauguration ceremony is the best option and it shows Beijing’s goodwill to President-elect Trump,” he told VOA by phone.
While Beijing tries to respond positively to Trump’s invitation, other experts say Han’s attendance will remain largely ceremonial.
“I don’t expect anything concrete out of Han’s trip to Washington,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Despite the ceremonial nature of Han’s attendance at the inauguration, Zhu said Beijing’s move could still “lay a good foundation” for U.S.-China relations under the second Trump administration.
“Hopefully, a friendly atmosphere will be built and can be sustained in the weeks and months ahead, so when the two sides sit down to discuss substantive issues, maybe a deal could be struck,” he told VOA by phone.
Trump’s return to the White House has created uncertainties for China, which has faced a persistent economic downturn in recent years.
During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to impose tariffs up to 60% on Chinese products. Zhou said the possibility of high tariffs has made Beijing cautious about the prospect of U.S.-China relations under the second Trump administration.
“We don’t know how Trump will play his cards, so I believe China will wait to see how his policies towards China play out,” he told VOA.
Despite threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump said the two could have a good relationship and that he has been in contact with the Chinese leaders through representatives.
“And I think we will probably get along very well, I predict,” he said during an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Jan. 6, adding that the relationship has to be “a two-way street.”
Additionally, Trump wants to appoint several politicians known for hawkish stances on China, including Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Rep. Mike Waltz to be White House national security adviser.
Rubio, during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, described China as “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.”
“They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor,” he said.
Despite Rubio’s seemingly tough rhetoric on China during the hearing, Zhu said it is too early to tell whether that language will translate into actual policies toward China in the new administration.
“Some of the appointees by Trump seem hawkish on China but since they work for Trump, I don’t think they will override Trump’s policies,” he told VOA.
Zhu said since it remains unclear how Trump will shape his policies toward China, Washington and Beijing will “move ahead cautiously.
“Both sides had a terrible experience during Trump’s first term so it looks like they want to start afresh this time,” he said.
