Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the United States next month, but he is expected to skip the United Nations General Assembly.
According to a report by Politico on August 18, citing anonymous sources, President Xi will arrive in the U.S. on September 23 and hold a summit with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on September 24 before returning home on September 25. The sources are said to be four individuals familiar with Xi's schedule. The White House, State Department, and the Chinese embassy in the U.S. did not provide specific comments on the matter.
In Washington diplomatic circles, there had been speculation that Xi would attend the UN General Assembly, which opens on September 22, as part of his visit. Some anticipated that he would present China's vision for peaceful international development as an alternative to the U.S. approach regarding Iran. A European Union diplomat in Washington noted, "When the summit date was first announced for September 24, there was speculation that Xi proposed this date to link it with his attendance at the UN General Assembly in New York."
Xi last addressed the UN General Assembly in person in 2015, during the 70th anniversary of the UN's founding. In 2021, he delivered a virtual speech amid the COVID-19 pandemic, indirectly referencing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a month earlier and promoting a vision of a world order less centered on the U.S. for developing countries.
Richard Stengel, who served as the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs during the Obama administration, commented, "As the U.S. appears to be retreating from the international stage due to its entanglement in a war with Iran, China has positioned itself as a strong supporter of the UN Charter and a bastion of global governance. In that sense, skipping this General Assembly is a missed opportunity for Xi." He added, "From the Trump administration's perspective, this absence highlights the contrast between a world power that supports the UN and an America-first approach that is indifferent to it."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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