Members of the Chinese press corps in Washington for a state visit by the country’s president, Xi Jinping, got into several altercations with U.S.-based journalists and the Secret Service while covering President Donald Trump’s summit with Xi on Thursday, according to videos posted to social media.
The Washington Sun observed members of the Chinese press arguing loudly with White House aides in order to get a better position during a military review in the Rose Garden, which was part of the Thursday summit’s arrival ceremony.
The back-and-forth came atop an already drama-filled day in the White House press corps, as CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters fought to secure reentry to the grounds even after a federal judge temporarily struck down a ban that was originally put in place by Trump.
Chaos appeared to erupt in videos posted online as Chinese and U.S. media members jockeyed for a spot ahead of Xi’s arrival. One member of the U.S. press can be heard exclaiming, “You’re stepping on my feet,” in a video posted to X on Thursday by The Telegraph’s chief Washington correspondent, Connor Stringer.
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The Secret Service reportedly became involved after an altercation regarding the placement of U.S. press and official Chinese state-run media on the White House South Lawn. Secret Service and White House officials threatened to remove one Chinese official “for interfering with shots and official WH cams,” according to Washington Examiner White House correspondent Christian Datoc’s account of the incident.
Following the altercations at the arrival ceremony, shouts rang out in the White House briefing room when a Chinese photographer reportedly shoved a female American reporter while rushing to the bilateral meeting between Trump and Xi in the Oval Office, according to a video and information posted to X by Iris Tao, the White House correspondent for NTD News, a news outlet founded by Chinese Americans that fled communism.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared to react to a disruption created by the visiting press corps during remarks given by Trump and Xi in the Grand Foyer of the White House, according to Mary Margaret Olohan, the White House correspondent for the Daily Wire.
The White House, the U.S. Secret Service and the White House Correspondents’ Association did not respond to requests for comment on the incidents.
Despite the apparent distractions, Trump complimented the Chinese media, telling Xi that he admired Chinese reporters for their friendliness and deference — quipping that they have to ask Xi before they speak.
China has severely limited press freedoms, and many of the country’s reporters work for state-run media outlets. Trump’s ban on three outlets from entering White House grounds also forced some members of the U.S. press to adjust some of their coverage of the summit, after the network TV pool suspended its coverage in solidarity.
Taylor Rogers, a White House deputy press secretary, dismissed concerns about the optics of Trump’s media ban ahead of the U.S.-China summit.
“There is no comparison,” Rogers said in an interview with Spectrum News, speaking about China and U.S. press freedoms. “This is the most transparent president that our country has ever seen.”
This is not the first time incidents between U.S. officials and the Chinese press have been reported. Chinese reporters knocked down and trampled a White House aide during Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, the New York Post reported.
During then-first lady Michelle Obama’s visit to Beijing in 2014, members of the Chinese media pushed forward, separating her from her daughters, while members of the U.S. media were also physically pushed during the trip, according to The Washington Post.
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