Donald Trump said he was impressed by the children who greeted him during his visit to China – but a former secret service agent had a far less enthusiastic reaction to the “choreographed” ceremony, describing it as “creepy” and “bizarre.”
Donald Trump arrived in China on May 13 for his first face-to-face meeting with President Xi Jinping since 2017, as both countries continued navigating months of geopolitical tensions tied to tariffs and trade disputes.
But before any meetings took place, the president was met with an elaborate welcome ceremony after Air Force One touched down.
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng greeted the president along the red-carpet runway while hundreds of children waved American and Chinese flags, held bouquets, and sang as the president moved through the crowd.
‘Those children were amazing’
As the greeting continued, Trump applauded the children and later praised their enthusiasm in comments reported by the New York Times.
“That was an honor like few I’ve ever seen before,” Trump said, according to the NYT. “And I think I was particularly impressed by those children. They were happy. They were beautiful. The military is obvious. It couldn’t be better. But those children were amazing.”
Heavily staged
But behind the polished ceremony and cheering crowds, former Secret Service agent Richard Staropoli said the atmosphere reminded him of a presidential trip to China he worked during Bill Clinton’s 1998 visit – one he claimed felt heavily staged from start to finish.
According to Staropoli, the events surrounding that earlier visit felt tightly controlled from start to finish.
“Well, everything back during that Clinton visit was completely staged,” Staropoli said in a May 14 interview with Newsmax. “You know, we’d go out somewhere at 9:00 in the morning, we’d see the faces in the crowd, we’d see the same faces in the crowd throughout the course of the day as we went from event to event.”
‘Creepy’
Staropoli went on to suggest that little has changed when it comes to how some officials manage public appearances involving world leaders.
“Everything was choreographed and staged,” he said. “I can guarantee you the Chinese are hating the fact that President Trump is there taking control and doing things that were not choreographed and carefully controlled and spoken about prior to him coming out there.”
The conversation then shifted to footage of the children greeting Trump during the ceremony.
“These kids… the media love these kids,” the interviewer said. “This was just – that was creepy to me, very bizarre.”
Staropoli agreed with the assessment, replying simply: “Yup.”
‘We don’t need help’
Despite the diplomatic pageantry, Trump returned to the United States with no progress to report from his trip to China, a country which is tied to Tehran with a 25-year “comprehensive strategic partnership agreement” that started in 2021.
Speaking to reporters while traveling back to Washington, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him he supports reopening the Strait of Hormuz and agrees Iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon – although China had already publicly expressed those positions beforehand.
“He would like to see it end. He would like to help. If he wants to help, that’s great. But we don’t need help,” Trump told Fox “You know the problem with help? When somebody helps you, they always want something on the other side. That’s the way help works.”
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