Bipartisan senators criticize Trump’s lavish reception of Xi
Trump and first lady Melania Trump met Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews as the Air Force band performed the national anthems of both countries. The ceremony also included a cannon salute, a 21-person honor cordon, color guards and the flyover by two B1 bombers. The tarmac greeting was a rare gesture for an incumbent U.S. president to extend to a foreign leader.
A second ceremony is planned for Thursday morning at the White House, with more than 500 U.S. service members taking part. Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet in the afternoon, followed by a state dinner in the evening.
The lavish reception drew bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took to the Senate floor on Tuesday and said Trump should remember that Xi “is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”
A separate statement from Senate Democrats, signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) among others, faulted the red-carpet treatment. “President Xi gets the royal treatment while President Trump hurls threats and wages trade wars on allies like Canada,” the Democrats wrote. “This is not leadership, and Americans deserve better.”
The Democratic statement called on Trump to take three specific actions during the visit: end China’s access to the advanced chips and manufacturing equipment it needs to build what the lawmakers called “dangerous AI systems”; stand with Taiwan against China; and press Xi to stop supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized the visit and the lavishness of Trump’s treatment of the Chinese leader, according to reporting by The Hill cited by UPI. The trip marks Xi’s first state visit to the United States in 11 years.