Hong Kong —
Chinese leader Xi Jinping scurries down 39 red-carpeted steps outside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, a political landmark in the very heart of China’s capital.
The timing of each step is such that he passes senior officials from the Chinese and American delegations and reaches a discreet spot on the red carpet within seconds of the arrival of his guest, US President Donald Trump. On cue, ceremonial music begins.
The level of meticulous, second-by-second planning exhibited during President Trump’s first visit to Beijing in 2017 will be on display again starting Thursday, when the president plans to visit the Temple of Heaven, an ancient place of worship where emperors once prayed for good harvests, and Zhongnanhai, home to the ruling Communist Party’s secret headquarters, with little made public.
“The Chinese are very meticulous. They try to plan everything precisely,” said William Klein, a former U.S. diplomat who helped arrange Trump’s 2017 visit and is now a senior partner at strategic communications consulting firm FGS Global.
Meeting with an unpredictable president like Trump poses major logistical challenges for those who insist on accuracy. Diplomats need only see that in a recent meeting with the Japanese leader, the American leader joked about Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.
“What a president says during a meeting is spontaneous and there is no way to control it,” said Sarah Belan, a former senior U.S. diplomat who helped arrange President Trump’s last visit to China in 2017 and President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Biden in 2023. Beran predicted that the Chinese government would restrict access to the media to prevent off-script statements from being widely reported.
Behind the scenes, junior and senior officials from both countries have been working for months to craft deliverables and refine political messages.
On the Chinese side, nothing can be left to chance. Nothing should go wrong, especially during a highly staged public event.
The ultimate goal of Chinese officials is to present their country’s leader in the best possible light, while ensuring that guests feel the respect they deserve. President Trump’s previous visit in 2017 included a highly unusual private tour of the Forbidden City, cultural displays including a Peking Opera performance, and a welcome ceremony that drew cheers from dozens of children.
Amid the global turmoil caused by the decision to launch an attack on Iran, President Trump’s very presence in China is a kind of victory for the Chinese government.
“The fact that President Trump was here and the two leaders were able to meet face-to-face is already an important achievement and success,” said a Chinese source familiar with the matter.
The global political landscape has changed significantly since 2017, when the Chinese government famously conducted its own “nation-plus” visit for President Trump.
At the time, Chinese state media reported that “every detail reflected painstaking craftsmanship and preparation” to create a warm atmosphere and “dilute suspicions, build trust and urge Washington to take China’s interests more into account when formulating policy.”
President Xi gave Trump a personal tour of the Forbidden City, closing the vast Forbidden City to the public so that Trump and first lady Melania Trump could watch a private Peking Opera performance and see restoration work underway at the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Later, Mr. Xi hosted Mr. Trump at a lavish dinner, making Mr. Trump the first foreign leader to dine inside the Forbidden City since the founding of modern China.
The People’s Liberation Army’s honor guard, which includes members of the Army, Navy and Air Force, underwent rigorous vetting and rigorous training to be selected for President Trump’s viewing ceremony in Tiananmen Square. The average height of male guards was approximately 188 cm, and the average height of female guards was 175 cm.
Dozens of children from nearby schools, including 10 American expatriates, were also chosen to welcome “Grandpa Trump” so that he could feel the warmth of home and the sincerity of China’s friendship, state media reported at the time.
“When I go to China, the Chinese government plans state visits better than any other country I’ve ever seen. The food is always great. There’s entertainment, and they put on a really great show, so China is a very good host for state visits,” said Beran, now a partner at global advisory firm Macro Advisory Partners.
This time, despite the resurgence of trade tensions and the continuing war with Iran, the Chinese government displayed a friendly diplomatic stance ahead of President Trump’s visit. At the end of April, it was announced that a pair of adorable giant pandas would be sent to Zoo Atlanta. The panda’s names “Pingping” and “Fushuan” mean “peace” and “double luck” in Chinese, respectively.
China has also approved two Hollywood films, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and “Michael,” a biopic about American superstar Michael Jackson, to be shown in theaters during the Golden Week period in May.
The coveted holiday box office slot is usually reserved only for domestically produced films, so approving the two films steeped in American culture was seen as a gesture to build U.S.-China relations beyond government ties.
Nearly a decade has passed since President Trump’s last visit to Beijing, and although the steps of the Great Hall have remained the same, Beijing is now ready to receive the American leader.
After a decade of deepening hostilities, Beijing approaches the talks with its own strategy. The strategy includes a sweeping push towards economic independence and a powerful toolkit to deal with foreign sanctions against Chinese companies.
Beijing hopes to use the summit to show the world that it can manage its relationship with President Trump and forge a more stable relationship with the United States under his eventual successor.
In contrast to the U.S. president, who is known for relying more on intuition than careful preparation, Mr. Xi is expected to display a commanding presence as host. Chinese officials will be conducting an extraordinary amount of research to prepare for unexpected maneuvers by the U.S. team.
“(Chinese officials) are very uncomfortable with ambiguity and surprises. They don’t want to surprise their leaders with topics or questions that they haven’t explained to them,” Klein said.
“So they try to be as clear as possible with the other side about the exact agenda, the exact topics that will be addressed, and often lobby hard for certain topics to not be on the agenda at all. They don’t want to talk about it,” he added.
Trade is sure to be on the agenda as both countries seek concessions and easing of export restrictions, along with the inevitable debate over Iran and the impact of war on global oil markets.
Away from the negotiating table, Shi Yinghong, an international relations scholar at Renmin University in Beijing, said it was “unlikely” that China would use as much hype against Trump as it did in 2017.
Shi said that since President Trump’s last visit, bilateral relations between the United States and China have entered a decade of deepening tensions over trade, technology, human rights, Taiwan and the South China Sea. Beijing has “learned a remarkable lesson,” Shi said, suggesting that putting on a lavish show does not necessarily lead to improved relations.
Wang Huiyao, a former adviser to China’s State Council, said it would be difficult to match the spectacle of President Trump’s previous visit to Beijing, with many negotiating issues over the two packed days.
“I don’t think the level and grandeur of the ceremony will exceed the 2017 visit,” said Wang Wang, director of China’s semi-official think tank Center on China and Globalization.
“I’m here to get down to business this time, but there’s a war going on.”
