Chinese statesman Deng Xiaoping’s visit to the United States in 1979 – which marked the normalisation of bilateral ties – was remembered for an enduring image as he watched a private rodeo show in Texas.
The diminutive leader gamely donned a 10-gallon cowboy hat presented to him by two cowgirls and waved to a cheering crowd.
It was seen as a symbol of goodwill as China emerged from the international isolation of the Mao Zedong years.
While not officially designated a state visit – Deng was not China’s head of state – highly choreographed trips such as this by Chinese leaders over the decades have often been imbued with significance and colour.
President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US to meet his American counterpart Donald Trump, scheduled for Sept 24, will be the first Chinese state visit in more than a decade.
Excluding the upcoming summit, Chinese leaders have made only five state visits to the US since both sides established diplomatic ties in 1979.
State visits are accorded only to foreign heads of state, at the invitation of the US president, and include pomp and pageantry such as a 21-gun salute, a welcoming ceremony and a White House state dinner.
These visits are aside from meetings on the sidelines of multilateral fora, such as when Xi met then US President Joe Biden at the APEC Summit in November 2024 in Peru.
Here is a timeline of state visits made by Chinese leaders to the US, other colourful moments and what they symbolised:
1985
Li Xiannian - Ronald Reagan (10 days)
Li, who was China’s president, made a 10-day visit that covered Washington for talks with President Reagan, as well as visits to Hollywood and Disneyland in California – pairing official business with cultural tours during a period when relations were cordial, against the backdrop of rivalry with the Soviet Union.
1997
Jiang Zemin - Bill Clinton (9 days)
US-China relations chilled after the Tiananmen protests in Beijing in 1989, but Jiang went on a charm offensive that included laying a wreath at the Pearl Harbour memorial in Hawaii, giving a speech at Harvard University, and ringing the New York Stock Exchange bell – a symbolic gesture that projected China as being open for business, four years before the country joined the World Trade Organization.
2006
Hu Jintao - George W. Bush (4 days)
There were talks with Bush at the White House and meetings with business leaders from Wal-Mart, General Motors, Citigroup and Walt Disney, but gaffes marred Hu’s first US visit as president. A falungong protestor heckled Hu while he was speaking at a White House ceremony, while an announcer mistakenly referred to China as the “Republic of China”, the formal name for Taiwan. Beijing described the trip as a “state visit”, but Washington regarded it as an “official visit”.
2011
Hu Jintao - Barack Obama (4 days)
Hu was entertained at an elaborate state dinner, with performances by jazz musician Herbie Hancock and China-born classical pianist Lang Lang, before flying to Obama’s home town of Chicago. But issues such as US arms sales to Taiwan, human rights and accusations that China manipulates its currency had begun causing distrust in the relationship.
2015
Xi Jinping - Barack Obama (7 days)
In Seattle, Xi met 30 top American and Chinese tech executives, including Apple’s Tim Cook and Alibaba’s Jack Ma, and posed for a “$2.5 trillion photo” – referring to the total market capitalisation of about US$2.5 trillion of all the represented firms. He later went to Washington DC and New York City, where he gave an address to the United Nations General Assembly.
2026
Xi Jinping - Donald Trump (3 days)
The upcoming summit is likely to be the shortest one so far. It comes amid fierce tech competition, including who gets to set the rules governing artificial intelligence. Xi is expected to bring a business delegation to further trade and investment in the US, even as both sides are negotiating a tariff truce. But analysts believe that the two superpowers remain keen on keeping relations stable, with Trump expected to be in Shenzhen, China, for the APEC summit in November – the two leaders’ third meeting in 2026.
While the presidents of both the US and China may meet on other occasions, like the opening ceremonies of different events or even other summits, a state visit is a formal visit involving several traditions and protocols depending on the country. It aims to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
However, depending on how each country would like to receive a head of state, the diplomatic engagements are decided upon to meet the level of protocol intended and the strategic intent. A full state visit like the upcoming visit to the US by the Chinese President typically includes the maximum level of ceremonial honour, a state dinner and joint press conferences to signal the deep bilateral commitment between the two countries.
In the Sept 24 meeting, Xi and Trump are expected to discuss a highly consequential set of agendas that include tariff truce extensions before their deadline in November, Chinese purchase of US farm goods, reliable Chinese rare earth exports to the US, and AI guard rails.