Washington: US President Donald Trump will welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping for a three-day state visit beginning Wednesday, with trade, artificial intelligence, security and human rights expected to dominate the closely watched talks.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will arrive at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday afternoon. Trump will receive the Chinese leader at the military facility outside Washington.
The formal state visit will begin Thursday at the White House. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will host an arrival ceremony for Xi and Peng on the South Lawn, the White House said.
The ceremony will involve 479 military personnel from all branches of the US armed forces. It will include the national anthems of China and the United States, remarks by Trump and Xi, a military review and a flyover by a B-2 Spirit bomber and four F-22 Raptor fighter jets.
Trump and Xi are expected to hold talks after the ceremony. The White House has not publicly detailed the agenda or identified any agreements that may emerge from the meeting.
However, lawmakers are pressing Trump to raise US concerns over China’s access to advanced technology, its trade policies, military posture and human rights record.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Elizabeth Warren are scheduled to lead a group of Democratic senators at a news conference on Wednesday. They will urge Trump to treat controls on exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment as non-negotiable.
The senators are also seeking congressional action on three bipartisan measures dealing with technology exports: the AI OVERWATCH Act, the MATCH Act and the Chip Security Act.
Their message to Trump ahead of the meeting is: “Don’t Hand China The Technology It Needs To Win The AI Race.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth has separately accused Trump of weakening US alliances and conceding ground to Beijing through what she described as an erratic trade policy. She has urged the administration to seek commitments on AI, human rights, supply-chain security and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
Other Democratic senators have called for Trump to confront Xi over allegations that China provided intelligence and satellite assistance to Iran. They said such support had placed American service members at risk.
Human rights will also follow Xi to Washington. Congressman Jim McGovern plans to appear with representatives of Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong and Chinese groups before the state visit.
McGovern, the top Democrat on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, is demanding that cooperation with Beijing be tied to tangible improvements in human rights.
Senator Dick Durbin has also asked Trump to press Xi for the release of political prisoners. His appeal named Gulshan Abbas, Jimmy Lai, Gao Quanfu, Pang Yu and Ekpar Asat.
The ceremonial programme will continue alongside the political discussions. Melania Trump and Peng will visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art on Thursday to view works linked to centuries of artistic achievement and cultural exchanges between China and the United States.
A state dinner will be held in the White House East Room on Thursday evening. The two presidential couples will meet again for tea in the Red Room on Friday before travelling to the National Archives.
They are scheduled to view records and documents connected to the history of US-China relations. Trump and Melania Trump will bid farewell to Xi and Peng at the National Archives.
The visit comes more than a decade after Xi and Peng last visited the White House. Relations between Washington and Beijing have since been strained by disputes over tariffs, Taiwan, the South China Sea, technology transfers and the treatment of ethnic and political minorities.
The outcome will also be closely followed in India. New Delhi is a member of the Quad with the US, Japan and Australia, while remaining locked in a long-running border dispute with China. Decisions reached in Washington could affect Indo-Pacific security, technology supply chains and global trade.
