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Exclusive | Trump’s China visit limited to Beijing due to tight schedule and security needs: sources
‘Given the situation [in the Middle East], the visit’s security arrangements must be extremely careful’
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US President Donald Trump will not go to any cities beyond Beijing during his visit to China scheduled for late this month because of his tight schedule and security concerns, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Several sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said United States “advance parties” arrived in China’s capital in “early March” and their preparations for the high-stakes summit had entered the “final stage”.
The South China Morning Post has previously reported that Chinese officials initially explored the idea of having Trump visit more than one city – starting in Beijing and then continuing to Shanghai – mirroring the format used for recent visits by other leaders, including the British and Canadian prime ministers.
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“Unfortunately, his schedule is very tight. There is no room to squeeze in a visit to a second city,” one source said.
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The White House said Trump would visit China from March 31 to April 2, which would be the first trip to the country by a sitting US president since 2017.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran have a “very limited” impact on the summit’s preparation, according to the source, who said both sides knew their ties were “the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship today, and both leaders are keen to meet”.
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The strikes, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, are the second time this year that the US has taken military action against a key partner of China, after its surprise capture in January of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. China has largely limited its response to stern statements.
A second source confirmed that Trump would only visit Beijing while in China, and that the US preparatory team had arrived in the Chinese capital.
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