China accepted the US proposal in principle, but poor communication and last-minute coordination failures ultimately kept its executives away

US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state dinner held at the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday (local time). [Getty Images]
US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state dinner held at the East Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday (local time). [Getty Images]

Chinese business executives were left off the guest list for the state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House because of disagreements between the two countries over reciprocity and Chinese investment in the United States, analysts say.

The South China Morning Post reported Wednesday, citing multiple sources, that including Chinese executives had been under consideration until the last moment, but the plan ultimately fell through due to those differences compounded by a lack of communication between the two governments.

The US side of the dinner featured a roster of prominent business figures, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Apple Chairman Tim Cook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Total attendance reached 134, but the Chinese delegation numbered only 19 — limited to President Xi Jinping and his wife along with senior party and government officials.

Neither side appears to have ruled out Chinese executives from the start. Two sources said the US first proposed inviting Chinese business leaders to the Washington summit as a gesture of reciprocity for Trump's visit to China in May, while preparing for the meeting.

China accepted the proposal in principle and subsequently asked the US side for more specific details about the planned meetings and official schedule, the sources added.

The White House was slow to respond to those requests. China grew frustrated but still notified several companies to have their executives ready to travel on short notice.

According to the sources, the Chinese government interpreted the lack of communication as a signal that the White House was reluctant to invite Chinese executives at all.

The question of whether Chinese executives would attend was also raised at a high-level preparatory meeting in New York held just before the summit, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement.

There were also differing interpretations of what reciprocity actually meant. China had expected its executives to be included in Xi's delegation to Washington, just as American business leaders — including Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — had traveled with Trump to China in May. The US side, however, wanted to apply the reciprocity principle only to senior government officials, one source said. The South China Morning Post noted that reciprocity had been a guiding principle throughout the preparations for Xi's US visit.

Disagreements over the prospect of Chinese investment announcements in the US also appear to have been an obstacle to including business executives.

The two sides were unable to narrow their differences over the terms of potential Chinese investment in the US. After the summit, the US side highlighted the launch of an investment committee as a key outcome, but no such reference appeared in China's own readout of the talks.

One source said Chinese executives should have attended the state dinner in large numbers regardless of any economic deliverables, adding that it would have represented a significant soft power win for China.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com