US First Lady Melania Trump will lead a series of cultural diplomacy events during the official state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, marking their first White House visit since 2015. The three-day itinerary, which begins today and runs through Friday, includes extensive ceremonial proceedings alongside focused efforts to highlight Sino-American cultural ties.
Upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will greet Xi and Peng. The White House reception on Wednesday will feature a range of military honors on the South Lawn, State Floor, and Rose Garden, including an honor guard display comprising 479 personnel from all branches of the US armed forces. The ceremonial welcome will also showcase a presidential salute, performances by the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon and the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, and will culminate in a joint flyover involving a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and four F-22 Raptors.
Following the official state arrival ceremony, Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan will participate in a cultural visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, the Smithsonian’s first art museum dedicated to Asian heritage, which houses a collection of over 45,000 works spanning millennia.
Wednesday evening will conclude with a formal state dinner co-hosted by Melania Trump at the White House East Room. Both presidents are scheduled to deliver remarks at the outset of the event. Attendees will include prominent American business figures such as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, and Tim Cook. Officials have described the dinner as a highly anticipated and exclusive gathering in Washington.
The diplomatic program will extend into Friday morning with a more informal engagement where the Trumps will receive Xi and Peng for morning tea in the White House Red Room.
This visit represents a return to more active involvement by the first ladies in the context of US-China summits. Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan last held separate engagements during a summit in 2017. Melania did not join President Trump for his visit to Beijing earlier this year but traveled with him on his 2017 trip to China, during which she and Peng shared several joint activities, including visits to a primary school, a Peking opera performance, and participation in traditional cultural classes.
On that occasion, Melania also stayed behind in Beijing after President Trump departed for Vietnam, touring the Beijing Zoo’s panda exhibit—where she fed a giant panda named Gu Gu—and visiting the Great Wall. These previous interactions have drawn public attention to the personal and cultural dynamics between the two first ladies, from their backgrounds to their public personas.