China’s ambassador to the United States is trying to connect with potential Trump administration officials after years of struggling to get meetings with Republicans in Washington.
Xi Feng has expanded his reach in Washington in recent months by hosting dozens of former U.S. officials and China experts at his home, according to people familiar with the situation.
These engagements have become more important since the election victory of Donald Trump, as the Chinese embassy has engaged heavily with Democrats during the presidency of Joe Biden.
Evan Medeiros, a former top White House Asia official, said Trump’s victory caught China “flat-footed.”
“They were going around Washington and New York looking for connections to Trump. They were asking Democratic analysts how to organize the Trump team,” said Medeiros, a Georgetown professor who before the election. Met with Xi.
“They basically have one game: Convince the business leaders around Trump to go soft on China.”
All ambassadors in Washington are trying to meet with people who might join the Trump administration. But Beijing faces a particular disadvantage because Republicans have been unwilling to engage Chinese officials in recent years as Washington has grown increasingly angry with China.
Ann Kowalewski, a former staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said many on Capitol Hill were reluctant to meet with Chinese officials because they felt the meetings would not be constructive. “There was a general perception that the meetings would just be embassy officials who read them talking points,” he said.
Earlier this year, Beijing tasked Cui Tiankai, its ambassador during Trump’s first administration, with reconnecting with former contacts in the former president’s team, but he was largely unsuccessful.
“Over the past few months, influential members of the Chinese Communist Party visiting Washington have indicated to me that they have not had the opportunity to make appointments with potential Trump officials,” said Dennis Wilder, a former top CIA China specialist.
In a bad omen for Beijing, Trump has nominated Chinahawks to top roles in his new administration, including Mike Waltz for national security adviser and Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
But Chinese officials are watching closely who Trump will name as Treasury secretary — and whether his former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, will join the new administration. They are also focusing on the role of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has business interests in China and has joined Trump’s inner circle.
A spokesman for Waltz said he had no comment on requests for a meeting. Rubio’s spokesman did not respond to a question about whether the Chinese embassy had been contacted. The embassy had no comment.
“They don’t have the same relationship with Trump’s team that they had last time,” said one person who met with Xi and his team. “The main question they were asking was: ‘What does Trump want?’
A former U.S. official said China wants “stability” and thinks Trump wants to make a deal with Beijing, but he doesn’t know what the president-elect wants and is “in a holding pattern” until negotiation channels open up. were
Christopher Johnson, a former top CIA China analyst, said Chinese officials were laser-focused on economic policy. “Their top three priorities are tariffs, tariffs and tariffs,” said Johnson, who heads the China Strategies Group consultancy.
Trump’s threat to impose a 60 percent tariff on imports from China was debated among less economically literate members of the Politburo and technocrats in Beijing, Johnson said.
“The former think, ‘We’ve beaten them before and we’ll do it again because we know how to eat bitters and spoiled Americans don’t.’ Technocrats .
China wants to make a deal with Trump if possible, said a Chinese Communist Party official in Beijing.
“The challenge is that we don’t know what Trump’s goal is. [or] Who can connect the two,” he said. “After four years of the first term, I really don’t think people in Beijing expect much of an agreement.”
Another person familiar with the thinking in Beijing said it was “absolutely natural” for China to meet with experts in Washington ahead of a new administration.
A person attached to the Chinese embassy in Washington also pointed out that the fact that Xi was trying hard to build connections did not mean Beijing was in the dark about the incoming administration.
“Chinese intelligence is almost certainly monitoring the comings and goings at Mar-a-Lago, where they interview candidates for cabinet positions,” the person said, referring to Trump’s West Palm Beach club. are doing
“Zhi Feng is a seasoned diplomat who knows that being the Chinese ambassador to Washington is a lonely job, especially in this environment,” said Myron Brilliant, a senior adviser at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, a consultancy. , who have known Xie for years. He added that it would be an “important battle” for the ambassador given the hawkish mood in Washington.
But he noted: “It’s important to note that Trump has an existing relationship with Xi and is likely to emphasize his relationship and channel with the Chinese president.”
