WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping will send a high-level envoy in his place to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Beijing has told Trump’s transition team that the official would attend instead of Xi, whom Trump had invited to attend, the report said, citing several people familiar with the situation. It said the envoy would also hold talks with Trump's team.
Xi could send Han Zheng, a vice president who sometimes stands in for him in ceremonial roles, while another option was Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the FT reported, citing its sources.
The paper cited one person familiar with the situation as saying that some Trump advisers wanted Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee seen as wielding much more power than Han or Wang in his capacity as Xi’s right-hand man.
China's Washington embassy and Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump extended the invitation to Xi last month, but experts said then it would be unprecedented for a leader of China, the top U.S. geopolitical rival, to attend a U.S. presidential inauguration and called it political theater.
Trump said on Monday that he and Xi have been speaking through representatives and he believes the two leaders will get along in his second term.
Even so, Trump has named numerous China hawks to key posts in his incoming administration, including Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of State, signaling his China policy could be more confrontational than during his first term.
Trump has also said he will impose an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods unless Beijing does more to stop trafficking of the highly addictive narcotic fentanyl. He threatened tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods while on the campaign trail.
China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Beijing attached "great importance" to Trump's remarks this week and that it is willing to promote "stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade."