U.S. First Lady Melania Trump's office confirmed that Melania will not accompany President Trump to Shenzhen, China, to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this month.
Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" exclusively reported on the 1st that regarding Melania's travel plans, her office confirmed in response to foreign media inquiries: "First Lady Melania currently does not plan to attend relevant events in person."
Trump is scheduled to first go to the Philippines to attend this year's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, and then transfer to Shenzhen to attend the APEC summit from the 18th to 19th. By then, he will have his third meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year. When Xi Jinping visited Washington last month, he invited the Trumps to visit Shenzhen at a tea party he attended with his wife Peng Liyuan. At that time, Trump responded enthusiastically: "Thank you very much, we will go, and we will have a lot of exchanges."
A source familiar with the discussions said the Philippines had also invited Melania to visit, and discussions about her possible trip continued as late as early last month. However, another source pointed out that the reason why she is most likely to miss these events is that this trip to China and the Philippines is not classified as the highest level of "state visits" (state visits), and there are fewer opportunities for the first lady to attend events alone.
Melania's absence will make this APEC summit less focused on "soft diplomacy." Not long ago, the first ladies of the United States and China demonstrated the charm of soft power in Washington.
The two continued the interaction pattern from Trump's first term, breaking ordinary diplomatic etiquette and having unscripted conversations. The seemingly relaxed and harmonious relationship between the two is in sharp contrast to the trade tensions and great power competition that dominate the current bilateral agenda. In September, when Trump greeted Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews, the two first ladies spoke without an interpreter for more than a minute. When the military band played the national anthems of the United States and China, Peng Liyuan seemed to say "wonderful" in English.
The footage of Peng Liyuan communicating in English sparked heated discussions on social media, recalling her career as a famous soprano and her 2015 speech at the United Nations on girls' education and gender equality.
Melania and Peng Liyuan also visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art to enjoy a youth choir singing Chinese songs for them. When the choir sang the famous Chinese folk song "Jasmine", Peng Liyuan hummed along with a smile and shouted "bravo" at the end of the performance.
These interactions have once again drawn netizens' attention to the similarities and differences between the two, with everything from their pre-marriage background, fashion sense, and style of public appearances becoming hot topics of discussion.
In fact, Melania did not accompany Trump on his visit to Beijing in May this year. The last time she accompanied Trump on his trip to Asia was his trip to India in February 2020. Her last visit to China was in November 2017, which caused a huge response on the Chinese Internet.
