US and Chinese security teams clashed during a struggle with language barriers Thursday as President Trump’s delegation made its way through Beijing.
Tensions flared several times on Thursday as the President and his team attended events hosted by China, as the President and Xi Jinping look to smooth over the rocky relationship between the nations.
After the welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People and a subsequent bilateral meeting behind closed doors, officials from both sides briefly clashed on a few occasions over security and protocol.
Following the bilateral meetings on Thursday afternoon, the US press cadre was delayed by roughly half an hour when entering the Temple of Heaven complex, after an argument over whether a Secret Service agent accompanying the media was allowed to enter the temple compound with his firearm.
‘What is it going to take to get us out of here,’ one American official tells her Chinese counterparts, according to a video of the incident from Reuters.
‘If you were arriving with Xi, and we told you, you couldn’t leave with him, that’s the issue,’ another US delegate says.
Chinese officials can be heard discussing the request.
‘Were in the motorcade with the President, do you not understand that?’ a member of the press says.
Donald Trump arrives alongside Secret Service agents during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China
Tensions flared several times on Thursday as Trump and his team attended events hosted by the Chinese delegation
Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping walk with Lara Trump during their visit to the Temple of Heaven on Thursday
Chinese officials argued over whether a Secret Service agent accompanying the media was allowed to enter the temple compound with his firearm
China’s President Xi looks at President Trump as they attend a state banquet
The Beijing officials could then be heard continuing to discuss among themselves as the US delegation stressed to them that they are meant to stick with Trump as he travels.
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Several US officials can be heard in the video explaining to the Chinese officials that they are part of Trump’s motorcade and must depart with the President.
Tensions and voices raised even further as US officials and press repeatedly told the Chinese that they ‘need to go.’
A compromise was eventually struck, and the US delegation was able to scurry to the motorcade to rejoin the President’s transport.
It was the second time in one day that a tense interaction broke out between the two delegations.
In another incident before the bilateral meeting, a US official told a crowd of Chinese media that they needed to allow the White House press corps into the event for a spray before the closed-door session began.
A compromise was eventually struck, and the US delegation was able to scurry to the motorcade to rejoin the President’s transport
Onlookers wait behind a barricade as a motorcade carrying President Trump drives by
President Trump’s motorcade leaves the Four Seasons Hotel on the way to the Great Hall of the People on Thursday
Similarly, that abrasive interaction resulted in yelling and discontent.
In 2018, on another Trump trip to Beijing, there was a skirmish over the ‘nuclear football,’ a briefcase with US nuclear launch codes and capabilities, when a Chinese official denied the military aide holding the bag into an event.
Per protocol, the military aide is to stay close to the President at all times, and John Kelly, Trump’s then Chief of Staff, told the aide to speed ahead. The incident was over in a flash, according to reports at the time.
The US Secret Service prepared a behemoth effort to protect Trump on his state visit in Beijing following multiple assassination attempts on the President’s life.
A senior airman chains presidential vehicles on a C-17 aircraft before a Trump trip in 2019
A fleet of motorcade vehicles was shipped by the Secret Service to Beijing ahead of the visit
A $1.5 million, 20,000lb armored Cadillac, loaded with eight-inch thick armor, was one of the vehicles flown to China
The agency has been haunted by close calls since Trump’s election campaign – and just last month faced further scrutiny when a gunman shot an agent while targeting the President at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington.
Security is complicated by the ongoing war with Iran, which shares close ties to China.
Agents flew in a $1.5 million, 20,000-pound armored Cadillac loaded with eight-inch thick armor, tear gas cannons, night vision, a sealed oxygen supply and Trump’s blood type on ice.
And that was just to transport him from the airport.
Between White House aides, Cabinet members, Secret Service, State Department officials, military personnel and journalists, roughly 900 people from the US delegation are accompanying the President on his trip, according to the US-China Business Council.
