WASHINGTON — China’s ambassador to the US has specified four topics that Beijing expects President Trump to avoid during Xi Jinping‘s state visit this week — while a Senate Republican foreign policy buff bashed the “lavish welcome” planned for the Chinese president.
Xie Feng, in an op-ed for the official People’s Daily newspaper, wrote that “China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests cannot be violated, and four red lines — the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, development paths and systems, and development rights — cannot be challenged.”
Xi continually pressed the issue of Taiwan, the self-governing, democratic island that China claims as its own, when he and Trump met in Beijing back in May, causing their scheduled meeting to run long.
The Trump administration shrugged off Xi’s attempt to buttonhole Trump on the topic, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling “NBC Nightly News” at the time that “US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here.”
“It was raised,” Rubio went on. “They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics.”
Xi’s three-day state visit to the US will be his first since 2015 and his first appearance on American soil since 2023.
In a rare gesture, Trump himself will meet Xi on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday evening, believed to be the first time since 1962 that a president has extended the honor to a non-pope.
The White House will also host a state dinner for Xi Thursday night, while a massive military flyover is planned during his visit.
“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, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Tuesday.
“During every minute of dialogue, our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”
Other senators from both parties conveyed similar sentiments, urging Trump to be more direct with China about America’s misgivings.
“President Trump has been clear that under his leadership, the United States must engage with China, given the reality of our economic relationship,” Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) contended.
“But we can’t forget that China is also a competitor and an adversary.”
