Xi Jinping's visit to the United States is not just a diplomatic account: before the 21st National Congress, how Beijing transformed the Washington journey into a domestic political narrative

Xi Jinping is about to go to Washington for a state visit.In addition, it was a high-level negotiation around trade, rare earth, artificial intelligence and Taiwan; it also took place at the time of the gradual start of the next round of important personnel layout by the Communist Party of China.Radio Free Asia quoted several Chinese political observers on September 18, analyzing that Beijing saw the visit as an opportunity to show the supreme leadership's diplomatic control and policy stability.

What needs to be distinguished is that there is currently no public evidence that the visit shows that there is a direct transaction or an inevitable systemic link with the specific personnel arrangements within the party.The so-called “power demonstration before the 21st National Congress” is mainly based on the analysis of the political effects of external scholars and anonymous sources, rather than the confirmed purposes of the CCP Central Committee’s decision-making.

High-quality diplomatic images with domestic dissemination value

Trump plans to personally visit the Andrews Joint Base to meet Xi Jinping, and the White House will also hold official welcome ceremonies, military ceremonies and national banquets. These images are expected to be widely disseminated through the official Chinese media. For any government, receiving a high-quality reception is a domestic political symbol; in China's highly centralized political communication system, the diplomatic activities of the highest leaders are especially easy to bind to national power, international status and leadership authority.

RFA cited a Chinese political scholar who used the pseudonym, saying that high-profile reception could be interpreted as Xi's still dominant position in diplomatic and personnel arrangements. Another surveyed military researcher argued that in the context of the continued personnel change at the senior level of the Liberation Army, the highest leader at this time left Beijing to visit the United States, may also be understood by the outside as a demonstration of the stability of the command system. These are all part of the respondent's analysis and cannot be inferred from the specific change in power within the party.

*Economic results may be more important than rituals*

If the diplomatic ceremony provides a political picture, Beijing is harder to avoid the economic outcome. The Chinese economy is still facing problems such as real estate adjustment, underconsumption, local fiscal pressure and confidence of private enterprises.

Reuters previously that executives of companies such as Biady, Ningde, Xiaomi and others may join Xi Jinping’s visit to the US delegation, but the final list is still uncertain.If achieved, this will contrast with China’s policy in recent years to emphasize the environment of security, regulation and industrial control, and also release signals that Beijing hopes to use enterprises and economic and trade cooperation to stabilize China-US relations.

Rare Earth is one of Beijing’s most prominent negotiations at the moment.China has an important position in the rare earth processing and magnetic material supply chain, while the United States has high-end chips, advanced equipment and a number of key technology export control tools.Both sides are trying to turn industrial dependence into a negotiating lever.

21nd Congress is approaching, personnel issues have not yet been publicly determined

The 21st CPC National Congress is expected to be held in 2027, when high-level positions such as the Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau will enter a new round of adjustment.

Due to the lack of competitive public elections and transparent nomination procedures in China's highest level personnel generation process, external observations can usually only speculate power changes through official meetings, cadres movements, publicity rankings and policy signals.This information environment also makes judgments about "fascist struggle", "succession arrangements" or weak leadership power often more uncertain.

Therefore, it is not strict to interpret the visit directly as a victory for a particular faction.More observable indicators are whether Xi continued to dominate major diplomatic, military and economic agendas before and after the visit; which officials and corporate leaders in the delegation gained prominent positions; how official propaganda described the results of the visit; and central and local senior personnel adjustments in the following year.

The United States itself is a resource for Beijing’s governance.

After China-US relations have experienced tariffs, technology controls, Taiwan and military competition, Beijing has a realistic momentum to reduce short-term friction. Stabilizing relations with the United States can reduce export and supply chain uncertainty, and also help Chinese enterprises gain market and investment expectations. In turn, if negotiations escalate to a new round of tariffs or technical restrictions, Beijing will bear more obvious economic and policy costs.

This means that Xi Jinping in Washington faces two sets of measures that exist simultaneously: at the diplomatic level to safeguard Beijing’s declared sovereignty and security position, at the economic level to struggle for operational trade and technical space; and at the internal level to interpret the results of negotiations as policy initiative rather than passive concessions.

Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S. is therefore not only a bilateral summit, but also a concentrated exhibition of China’s political communication system.High-specific reception can provide symbolic capital, but the real determination of how this visit will be used at home will be whether economic and trade achievements, scientific and technological restrictions will change, and how Beijing will subsequently incorporate these results into its narrative about “great power diplomacy”, economic stability and leadership authority.