Speculation about the health of Chinese President Xi Jinping, 73, has resurfaced after he requested unusually frequent breaks during his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
China asked the White House to set up a private rest room for Xi inside the West Wing during the visit, The Wall Street Journal reported on the 2nd.
Only his wife, Peng Liyuan, was allowed inside. Access was tightly restricted for the Chinese delegation, including Xi's chief of staff, as well as for White House officials.
The itinerary itself was noticeably scaled back. China's advance team asked the White House to cancel a working lunch with Trump that had been scheduled for Sept. 24. That stood in contrast to May, when the two leaders shared a lunch at Zhongnanhai during Trump's visit to Beijing.
The Chinese side wanted to secure as much rest time as possible for Xi, leaving about five hours unscheduled during the short trip, the Journal said. The evening of his arrival day was left open, and a Sept. 25 visit to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration ended after just 10 minutes, far shorter than originally planned.
Footage released from the trip also showed Xi moving with difficulty. Stepping off his plane, he held Peng's hand with one hand and gripped the railing with the other. He leaned on his wife throughout as he climbed the steps at the National Archives. Chinese state media left those scenes out of prime-time broadcasts.
It is not the first time questions have been raised about Xi's health. At a BRICS summit in India last month, he also skipped a dinner attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders because of health problems.
Experts said a request by a foreign leader for a private rest room inside the White House is without precedent. Dennis Wilder, former senior director for China at the National Security Council, who oversaw three state visits under the George W. Bush administration, said nothing like it happened with former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi or former Chinese President Hu Jintao, calling it "highly unusual."
Wilder also noted that the Sept. 24 bilateral meeting began around noon and ended early in the afternoon, adding that the session was far too short for a meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies.
Experts said Xi does not appear to be showing signs of serious cognitive impairment such as declining brain function. Still, with no successor named and power concentrated in Xi alone, his health is seen as a key variable that could shake China's political landscape.
