On September 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan boarded a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, concluding their three-day visit to the United States. (AP)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping went to the United States for a summit with President Trump in late September. The latest investigation by the US media revealed that China required the White House to prepare a room specifically for Xi Jinping to rest in advance and canceled the original working lunch, resulting in a gap of about 5 hours in the two people's summit schedule. These rare arrangements have once again drawn attention to Xi Jinping's health.
According to an exclusive report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 2nd, multiple people familiar with the preparations for the visit revealed that China requires the United States to arrange a "waiting room" in the West Wing of the White House for Xi Jinping to rest between various activities. Only his wife Peng Liyuan is allowed to enter, and other Chinese officials, including Xi Jinping's staff, are not allowed to use it. Dennis Wilder, the former senior director for Asia affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, said that such arrangements were quite rare among the visits of foreign heads of state that he helped prepare in the past.
Please read on...
China canceled working lunch to give him more rest
People familiar with the matter said that as early as about a month before the visit to the United States, the Chinese advance team declined the Trump-Xi working lunch originally scheduled for September 24 by the U.S. and expressed the hope that Xi Jinping would have more rest time. The formal talks between the two ended in the afternoon that day. Xi Jinping left the White House and did not return until the evening to attend the state banquet. This caused a gap of about 5 hours in the two people's schedule.
China also did not arrange activities for the night when Xi Jinping arrived in Washington. The next day, September 25, he visited the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States and only stayed for about 10 minutes, far less than the time originally scheduled by the United States. The WSJ report pointed out that when planning the trip, China also needs to consider how long Xi Jinping can stand and walk, and when he needs to rest.
Xi Jinping is 73 years old this year. WSJ pointed out that he took a 14-hour flight from Beijing before going to the United States. The long-distance flight and jet lag itself may also cause fatigue, so some of the itinerary adjustments may not be directly related to health problems. The report also mentioned that when Xi Jinping walked with Trump and US first lady Melania Trump at the National Archives, he held Peng Liyuan's hand and walked up the stairs. Subsequent footage from Chinese official media did not show the relevant footage.
Xi Jinping's health issues have attracted attention before his visit to the United States. His absence from a dinner party during the BRICS summit in India in September aroused speculation. However, there is currently no public independent medical evidence confirming that Xi Jinping suffers from a specific disease; WSJ also quoted analysis as pointing out that there is no sign that he has cognitive decline.
In addition, in a recent interview with TIME magazine, U.S. President Trump also publicly refuted rumors that Xi Jinping was in poor health and said that the interaction between the two at the summit was "very good." Therefore, although Xi Jinping's health has once again become the focus of the rest arrangement disclosed by WSJ this time, changes in itinerary alone are not enough to determine his specific health condition.
