Xi to get what Trump didn’t in Beijing: a presidential airport welcome - South China Morning Post
Khushboo RazdanPublished: 11:13pm, 17 Sep 2026Updated: 12:09am, 18 Sep 2026US President Donald Trump will personally greet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews when Xi lands in Washington next Wednesday, a rare airport reception, a US official confirmed on background.Trump will attend Xi’s arrival ceremony at Andrews, where the Chinese president’s aircraft is expected around 4pm local time on September 23. The president almost never meets visiting heads of state at the airfield. He typically waits at the White House.
The gesture is not a perfect mirror of what Trump received in Beijing a few months ago. When Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 13, Xi did not come to the tarmac.
Vice-President Han Zheng led the reception, joined by ambassadors and senior foreign ministry officials, along with an honour guard, a band, and flag-waving youth. Xi’s formal welcome came the next day outside the Great Hall of the People, with a military review Trump later called “incredible”.
