Yasin Gungor
20 July 2026•Update: 20 July 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Washington remains on track for late September despite recent bilateral tensions.
“We anticipate that the trip is happening in September,” Rubio told reporters before departing for a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in the Philippines. “I have no reason to believe that they won’t be coming.”
He said Chinese teams had continued visiting the US to prepare for the visit, which is expected around Sept. 24, when world leaders will be in New York for the UN General Assembly.
Rubio said that while “irritants” would always exist between two major powers, it was essential for Washington and Beijing to maintain relations.
US President Donald Trump recently accused China of interfering in American elections. China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the allegations as having “no factual ground.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Monday that the Chinese and American sides had “maintained communication regarding the arrangements for the heads of states’ interactions later this year.”
“Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance for US-China relations,” Lin said.
According to Hong Kong-based daily South China Morning Post, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu is expected to travel to the US this week on a trip “likely to lay the groundwork” for Xi’s visit to Washington later this year.
The planned visit follows Trump’s trip to Beijing in May.