What Trump saw after visiting China's most sensitive garden

Photo: Collected

News Desk: Donald Trump spent the final day of his Beijing visit at Zhongnanhai, the highly secretive and heavily guarded headquarters of China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Often compared to the White House in the United States or the Moscow Kremlin in Russia, Zhongnanhai is regarded as the core of Chinese political power. Public access to the complex is strictly prohibited, and even digital maps reportedly blur many of its images.

Located in central Beijing, the centuries-old compound surrounded by red walls has only been visited by a handful of American leaders. On the final morning of the trip, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walked together through the historic gardens of the compound.

During the walk, Trump praised the roses in the garden, prompting Xi to offer him rose seeds as a gift. The two leaders later attended a tea gathering and luncheon together.

Xi Jinping explained that the invitation was intended as a gesture of appreciation for the hospitality Trump had shown him during his 2017 visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida during Trump’s first presidential term.

Xi also reminded Trump that since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, top Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao had lived and worked there, and that he currently resides there as well.

While strolling through the gardens, Xi pointed out the ancient trees and highlighted their historical significance. He even encouraged Trump to touch a nearly 490-year-old tree. Impressed by the royal atmosphere, Trump reportedly remarked that the place was truly magnificent and that he could easily get used to it.

Historically, Zhongnanhai once served as a royal retreat for Chinese emperors. After the fall of the monarchy in 1912, it became the residence of the president, and following the communist revolution, Mao Zedong selected it as the center of political power. Mao reportedly avoided the imperial Forbidden City to distance the new communist state from the failed monarchy and maintain loyalty to communist ideology.

Previously, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Zhongnanhai in 1972, where he met Mao Zedong. Later, George W. Bush and Barack Obama also visited the complex, with Obama’s trip taking place in 2014.

Trump’s visit to this historic and highly secretive center of global politics is being viewed as a significant moment in current relations between the world’s two major powers.