US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has become the first American defence chief in decades to accompany a sitting president on a state visit to China, in a rare departure from long-established diplomatic practice.Hegseth boarded Air Force One bound for Beijing alongside US President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, according to the White House.Trump is set to hold highly anticipated bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday.A China-morning-post" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12558" data-entity-type="organization">South China Morning Post tally shows it is the first time a US president has travelled to China with his defence secretary in tow since Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking visit in 1972.It will also be Hegseth’s first trip to China since taking up the post and the first US defence chief to visit China in nearly eight years.Previous US defence secretaries have generally arranged their China visits as stand-alone trips.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS139
ENT10
TUE · 2026-05-12 · 20:54 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0512-75741
NSR-2026-0512-75741News Report·EN·Diplomatic
US defence secretary joins Trump on China trip in rare diplomatic move
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to China, a rare diplomatic move not seen in decades. Hegseth boarded Air Force One with Trump for the trip to Beijing, where the President will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Yuanyue DangSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-05-12 · 20:54 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
139words
Sources cited
2cited
Entities identified
10entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to China, a rare diplomatic move not seen in decades. Hegseth boarded Air Force One with Trump for the trip to Beijing, where the President will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This marks the first time a US president has traveled to China with his defense secretary since Richard Nixon's 1972 visit. Hegseth's presence signifies a departure from the usual practice of defense secretaries undertaking separate trips to China. The visit is also Hegseth's first to China as defense secretary and the first for a US defense chief in nearly eight years.
Confidence 0.85Sources 2Claims 5Entities 10
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Diplomatic
Political Strategy
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
2
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
5 extracted01
This will be Hegseth’s first trip to China and the first US defence chief to visit China in nearly eight years.
factual
Confidence
1.00
02
It is the first time a US president has travelled to China with his defence secretary since Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972.
statisticSouth China Morning Post
Confidence
1.00
03
Hegseth boarded Air Force One bound for Beijing alongside US President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon.
factualWhite House
Confidence
1.00
04
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is the first American defence chief in decades to accompany a sitting president on a state visit to China.
statisticSouth China Morning Post
Confidence
1.00
05
Trump is set to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday.
prediction
Confidence
0.90
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Full report
1 min read · 139 words§ 05
Entities
10 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
People4
§ 06
Keywords & salience
9 termsus defence secretary
1.00
state visit to china
1.00
diplomatic practice
0.90
donald trump
0.80
chinese president xi jinping
0.70
bilateral talks
0.70
us president
0.60
richard nixon
0.50
diplomatic move
0.40
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Topic connections
Interactive graph Network visualization showing 49 related topics
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