The Chinese leader attending Trump’s inauguration?

China is sending Vice President Han Zheng to US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday – the first time a senior Chinese leader will witness an American president being sworn in.

Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, among other leaders – breaking with the tradition that foreign leaders do not attend US presidential inaugurations.

China has said it wants to work with the new US administration to “find the right way for the two countries to cooperate in the new era”.

But Beijing is also preparing for the Trump administration’s expected inclusion new prices for products from China It’s a very controversial statement – Marco Rubio, the nominee for Secretary of State, said that China is “the biggest, most advanced enemy America has ever faced”.

As president, Xi never attended the inauguration or inauguration ceremony, opting to send delegates instead. The Chinese ambassador to the US attended the last two presidential meetings, in 2017 and 2021.

Beijing has sent vice-presidents to such ceremonies elsewhere, though – Han attended the inauguration of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in October 2023. And his deputy, Wang Qishan, was present at the inauguration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in 2022 and Brazilian President Lula da Silva . in 2023.

Xi’s decision to send Han to the US is a sign that “he wants Trump to start making deals, but [he] they don’t want to be a supporter of Trump’s show on January 20,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow in China politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Other foreign leaders who have been invited to the event include Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told US media that the invitation to Xi is “an example of Trump creating open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not only our allies but our enemies and competitors”.

It could also be an attempt by Trump to show the world “he has the power to influence Xi’s decisions and has a special relationship,” says Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

Earlier reports suggested that some of Trump’s advisers wanted Cai Qi to attend. Widely regarded as Xi’s right-hand man, the 66-year-old Cai sits on the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, China’s cabinet equivalent.

The Financial Times quoted an unnamed source as saying that Trump would be “unhappy” if the Chinese delegation present was “at the level of Han or [Foreign Minister] Wang Yi”. The BBC has been unable to confirm these claims.

But as vice president, the 70-year-old Han has “the highest position in the Chinese government” and the decision to send him “with Trump’s permission”, says Chong Ja-Ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie. China.

Han, who was elected vice president in March 2023, is known as “number eight” – the most senior leader after the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee.

Han also served as a member until October 2022, when Xi began a third term in power as well he chose his most trusted ministers to higher jobs.

Before that Han spent a lot of time in politics in Shanghai, where he was born. In 2007, he served as an aide to Xi when the latter was party secretary in Shanghai, before taking over the post in 2012.

Foreign Affairs has focused on his role as vice president. He led the initiative to promote the Belt and Road project – China’s largest trade and infrastructure project – and chaired the management committee for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

But the fact that Han no longer sits on the Standing Committee of the Politburo could be a key factor in Beijing’s decision to send him.

“If the US-China relationship is going to get worse from the party’s point of view, Xi and the party will show that they have distanced themselves from Trump,” said Prof Chong.

And it also helps that Han is not considered an insider for Xi, according to Thomas.

“Xi trusts Han enough to do the job but Han is not very helpful and could be blamed if it goes horribly wrong.”

Additional reports by Ian Tang of BBC Monitoring.