Trump is reported to go to the airport to welcome Xi Jinping, with treatment comparable to the Pope and Khrushchev.

Trump is reported to go to the airport to welcome Xi Jinping, with treatment equal to the Pope and Khrushchev: A Review of Details on Diplomatic Protocol Between the Two Countries Reports from Reuters, Bloomberg, and other news agencies indicate that a senior U.S. official revealed to reporters on Friday (September 18) that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to personally go to Joint Base Andrews outside Washington to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is coming for a state visit. The protocol for receiving a dignitary is highly formalized, but there is still room for flexibility within the protocol, sufficient to convey subtle political signals. The level of the receiving official in the host country is historically the most direct barometer of the temperature of bilateral relations. It is extremely rare for the U.S. President to personally go to an airport to welcome a foreign head of state. Excluding the exception of the Pope's visit to the U.S., this would be the first time a U.S. President has welcomed a foreign head of state in this manner in over 60 years. This decision occurs at a time when U.S.-China relations are still under the shadow of trade friction and technological competition, which makes its symbolic significance particularly noteworthy. The following outlines the diplomatic logic behind this arrangement from three perspectives: historical precedents, changes in reception protocols during Sino-U.S. interactions, and the reception standards gained by Xi Jinping in recent visits. U.S. President Airport Reception: Rare in History It is not unprecedented for a U.S. President to personally go to an airport to welcome a visiting head of state, but cases are concentrated in specific eras. Records from the Library of Congress show that in the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy personally visited Andrews Air Force Base multiple times to welcome visiting foreign heads of state, including Ghana's President Nkrumah, Tunisia's President Bourguiba, Peru's President Prado, Ecuador's President Arosemena, Guinea's President Sékou Touré, and India's Prime Minister Nehru. However, unlike today, in the early years of Kennedy's administration, rather than just welcoming, it was more about holding the welcome ceremony directly at the airport. In the later years of Kennedy's administration, frequent trips to the airport to welcome guests often caused traffic congestion, so he reformed this protocol, officially designating the South Lawn of the White House as the formal welcome stage for foreign guests. After foreign guests arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, the protocol director would pick them up and fly by helicopter directly to the White House, where the President would hold the welcome ceremony on the South Lawn. This became the U.S. diplomatic custom. A more comparable example is in 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower personally visited Andrews Air Force Base to welcome Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev under the airstairs. This was also publicly announced and widely reported at the time, seen as a subtle and rare reception during the Cold War. However, in recent years, regarding reception arrangements, the Pope of Rome is an exception: in 1987, Ronald Reagan welcomed Pope John Paul II at Miami Airport; in 1999, Bill Clinton welcomed Pope John Paul II at the airport again; in 2008, George W. Bush and his wife welcomed Pope Benedict XVI at Andrews Air Force Base; and in 2015, Barack and Michelle Obama welcomed Pope Francis at Joint Base Andrews. There has been no other Papal visit to the U.S. in the past eleven years. Comparison with China's Reception Standards for Trump If the information from the White House is true, the U.S. arrangement exceeds the level of reception China provided when it hosted Trump in May of this year. At that time, when Trump arrived in Beijing, he was welcomed at the airport by the Vice President and former Politburo Standing Committee member of the CPC, Han Jeong. During Trump's first visit to China, the person who welcomed him at the airport was Yang Jiechi, who was then a member of the Politburo and State Council of the CPC. Yang Jiechi held actual decision-making power in China's foreign affairs and belonged to the sequence of "Party and State leaders," which is considered higher. The U.S. President has historically enjoyed higher treatment in the reception hierarchy than most foreign heads of state when visiting China. When most foreign leaders visited China, the welcoming official at the airport was usually at the ministerial level, for example, when the German Chancellor Mertz (Friedrich Merz) and the British Prime Minister Starmer (Keir Starmer) visited China, they were welcomed by Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance, respectively. It is worth noting that according to the itinerary revealed by the White House to reporters, Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan, will accompany him on the visit to the United States, which also releases a friendly signal, as Melania Trump did not accompany him when Trump visited China in May. How China Welcomes Foreign Leaders When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China, he enjoyed a reception level similar to that of the U.S. President. In May of this year, Wang Yi, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, welcomed him at the airport; and in August 2025, when he attended the SCO summit in Tianjin, Chen Min'er, a member of the Politburo and Secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, welcomed him at the airport. When North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un visited China, he was personally welcomed by Wang Huning, one of the seven members of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee; the presence of one of the seven members to welcome him was very rare. However, this treatment continues the alliance of "brotherly affection" between China and North Korea from the Cold War era and does not belong to the regular sequence of China's external receptions. Outside the normal diplomatic framework, there are two historical instances where U.S. Presidents received a higher level of treatment than Putin and Kim Jong Un. In 1972, Richard Nixon's "Thaw Trip" to China, when Sino-U.S. relations were not yet established, Zhou Enlai, the Prime Minister of the Foreign Ministry, personally went to the airport to welcome him, a level that has not been surpassed to this day. The other instance is Barack Obama's first visit to China in 2009, where Xi Jinping, then Vice President of the State Council, welcomed him at the airport. At that time, Xi Jinping held positions as a member of the Politburo and Vice President of the State Council of the CPC, and was recognized as the successor, making this arrangement generally viewed as exceptional treatment. During Obama's second term, the U.S. launched the "Asia Rebalance" strategy, and Sino-U.S. relations encountered fluctuations, and the welcoming official was immediately lowered to Wang Yi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The rise and fall of the welcoming official have become one of the barometers for observing the direction of Sino-U.S. relations. Receptions of Leaders Experienced by Xi Jinping In recent years, it has not been rare for foreign leaders to personally welcome Xi Jinping during his visits. The most recent instance was when Kim Jong Un personally went to the airport to welcome him on June 8 this year. This continues the tradition of Chinese leaders visiting North Korea: previously, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin visited North Korea, and even earlier, Zhou Enlai visited North Korea as Prime Minister, all of whom were personally welcomed at the airport by the Supreme Leader of North Korea. In other cases, it also occurs when heads of state personally go to the airport to welcome Xi Jinping, but usually requires two conditions: first, close relations with China, and second, a smaller national scale. In 2024, when Xi Jinping visited Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić went to the apron to welcome him; in the same year, when he visited Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán went to the airport to welcome him; and in 2025, when he visited Cambodia, King Norodom Sihamoni welcomed him at the airport. An earlier special case occurred in July 2014. While traveling to Brazil to attend the BRICS leaders' summit, Xi Jinping made a technical stop in Rhodes, Greece. A technical stop usually only involves refueling and a brief rest, not formal diplomatic activities. However, the then-President of Greece Papoulias and Prime Minister Samaras specially flew from Athens to Rhodes to welcome Xi Jinping at the airport and hold talks. The two top leaders of the two countries meeting and stopping in one place was extremely rare. The background for this exceptional reception was that Greece was still deeply embroiled in the Eurozone crisis, with severe economic and employment conditions, and under strict fiscal constraints from international bailout programs, urgently needing foreign investment and infrastructure projects to support recovery. Xi Jinping's trip was only about ten months after he proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative. Following this meeting, economic and trade cooperation between China and Greece significantly accelerated: in 2016, China gained control over the operator of the Port of Piraeus and continued to increase investment in the port. Overview of Xi Jinping's Visit to the U.S. According to International News Agencies September 23 (Wednesday) Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrive at Joint Base Andrews. Trump personally goes to the airport to welcome them, and the two sides hold a welcome ceremony at the military base, which is also very rare at Joint Base Andrews. September 24 (Thursday): Talks and State Banquet Trump will welcome Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan at the White House. The two sides then proceed to the Rose Garden for a parade inspection and then engage in bilateral talks. Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan will attend another event held in the Washington area, the details of which have not yet been announced by the White House. In the evening, the Trump couple will host a state banquet for Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan in the East Room of the White House. Trump and Xi Jinping will give speeches at the beginning of the dinner, with guests including high-ranking officials from the technology and finance sectors. September 25 (Friday): Tea Gathering, Tour, and Departure The Trump couple will host a tea gathering for Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan in the White House. The two sides then go to the National Archives in Washington to visit the founding documents of the United States. Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan depart for Joint Base Andrews and then leave the country.