Xi kicks off state visit to Washington Wednesday with rare planeside welcome from Trump

The Korea Times - Sep 23, 2026

WASHINGTON — When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington on Wednesday, he's expected to get a rare greeting from President Donald Trump , who will be on the tarmac to welcome his counterpart's plane instead of waiting for him to drive up to the White House. Trump's decision to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington rather than receiving him at the executive residence shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China's leader as he makes his first state visit in more than a decade. The White House has not released many details about Wednesday's greeting, but Trump is expected to participate in an arrival ceremony at the base with Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan. The salutation will kick off a three-day visit that's expected to be saturated with pomp, even by White House standards. The state visit, complete with a formal state dinner at the White House on Thursday, is supposed to reciprocate for the ceremonial grandeur that marked Trump's May visit to China. But it's also a showy patina at a time when tensions between the two geopolitical rivals are high

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Sep 23, 2026

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