Donald Trump's Beijing security operationcame under fresh scrutiny on Wednesday after Chinese guards reportedly blocked an armed US Secret Service agent from entering a historic temple complex during the US president's state visit with Xi Jinping. The account came from reporters travelling with the president and quickly cast the trip as both a diplomatic event and a security flashpoint.
The incident unfolded on the first full day of Trump's visit to Beijing, where he and Xi had held more than two hours oftalks on trade, Taiwan and the Iran war. The wider visit has already brought heavy disruption across parts of the Chinese capital, with cancelled flights, vetted hotel staff and tight restrictions around central Beijing.
The reported clash took place as Trump and Xi moved from closed door talks to the Temple of Heaven, a15th century landmarkloaded with political and cultural symbolism. According to the official White House press pool, Chinese security officers stopped a Secret Service agent accompanying reporters after discovering he was armed.
US President Donald Trump visited Beijing's Temple of Heaven with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as part of an official visithttps://t.co/1RHaGmKp7dpic.twitter.com/r059eDKFHF
Agence France-Presse correspondentDanny Kemp, who was travelling with the pool, said entry to the temple complex was delayed by nearly half an hour after Chinese officials refused to allow the armed agent inside. He described a long and increasingly tense exchange between US and Chinese officials before movement was finally allowed.
Kemp also said press aides were kept in a side room while both sides argued over whether the group could proceed. He later reported that a compromise was reached, though neither government has publicly explained what that involved or whether the agent was ultimately allowed to carry his weapon inside the compound.
Tensions reportedly continued even after the temple visit ended. Kemp said reporters and staff were briefly held again after Trump left the site, describing a further confrontation in which Chinese officials repeatedly tried to stop them from leaving and rejoining the presidential motorcade.
US officials had not publicly set out their own full version of events at the time of reporting. That left the details of the confrontation dependent largely on the travelling press account.
If the dispute at the Temple of Heaven exposed the friction between American and Chinese security rules, the wider picture in Beijing suggested a city being reshaped around the visit. Reports described a sweeping operation that affected air travel, hotels and street level access across key areas of the capital.
Major security measures were said to have been activated forTrump's two day stay. Reports claimed that around 30 flights in and out of Beijing Capital International Airport were cancelled on Wednesday evening to clear airspace and ease scheduling around the president's arrival.
Source: International Business Times UK
