At the invitation of the US side, President Xi Jinping's special representative, Vice President Han Zheng, will attend President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony on January 20 in Washington, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said today, as quoted by Xinhua and BTA.
China adheres to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in its relations with the United States, the spokesman said. “We are ready to work with the new US administration to strengthen dialogue and communication, resolve differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly strive for a stable, sound and sustainable China-US relationship, and "finding the right way for the two countries to understand each other," the spokesman added.
Argentine President Javier Milley is also leaving for the ceremony in the US capital, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
According to the program published by the presidency, Javier Milley will leave Argentina tomorrow shortly before midnight for Washington to attend Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. Milley, who has already met with Trump since his re-election, says he has an ideological and personal affinity with the Republican, whom he considers "one of the two most important politicians on the planet," along with himself.
The US capital, Washington, is frozen by sub-zero temperatures, and Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony on Monday could go down in history as the coldest swearing-in ceremony in decades, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
Although it is not expected to be as cold as Ronald Reagan's inauguration for a second term in 1985, when the mercury on thermometers showed almost minus 14 degrees Celsius at noon, according to the National Weather Service, Monday's forecast is for a high of minus 6 degrees, but it could feel significantly colder.
The ceremony is traditionally held outdoors on the west side of Capitol. For many people who will attend the ceremony but are not among the most prominent guests, the prospects are not good, because they have to take their seats long before the ceremony begins.
Trump often uses such cold snaps to mockingly ask where global warming has gone.
Due to low temperatures in 1985, the ceremony had to be held indoors, in the Capitol rotunda. According to the National Weather Service, it was the "coldest inauguration" since 1871, when records were kept.