Melania, Peng Liyuan reunite after 9 years for museum visit during US-China summit

Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan reunited Thursday (local time) — the day of the US-China summit — for a joint first ladies' diplomacy outing at the largest Asian art museum in the United States.

The two first ladies attended a welcome ceremony at the White House in the morning before visiting the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in Washington. There they toured the Peacock Room, which features an exhibition of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, among other works.

The Peacock Room is a work by American painter James McNeill Whistler, decorated in gold, blue and green, with two fighting peacocks symbolizing the clash between art and money. The two first ladies also viewed another Whistler work, "The Princess from the Land of Porcelain," depicting a woman in a kimono holding a fan.

Museum Director Chase Robinson and Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions Daniel Bennett guided the two first ladies through the works. The White House press pool reported that Melania called the displays "beautiful and amazing."

According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, Peng said she greatly appreciated the United States' repeated returns of Chinese cultural artifacts to China in recent years. Xinhua also reported that she expressed hope that both sides would continue to strengthen cultural exchanges and cooperation on heritage protection, promoting friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art has been part of efforts to repatriate artifacts that were stolen or acquired through unethical means.

The two first ladies then listened to a performance by students from the Hope Chinese School in the Washington area on the museum's entrance steps. About 30 students between the ages of 8 and 15, dressed in blue and white, waved the flags of both countries and sang the well-known song "Singing and Smiling" and the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower," according to the Associated Press. "Jasmine Flower" is widely known as a song Peng performed during her career as a singer before her marriage to Xi.

The two first ladies spoke with the students and took photos with them. Xinhua reported that Peng encouraged the students to keep studying the Chinese language and culture and to serve as ambassadors of friendship between China and the United States.

The two women's last public meeting was about nine years ago, when President Donald Trump visited Beijing in 2017. On that occasion they had tea at the Forbidden City and visited a local school. Melania did not accompany Trump on his visit to China in May this year.

On Friday, the two first ladies are scheduled to join both leaders for tea in the White House Red Room, after which they will visit the National Archives, which holds the US Declaration of Independence and other historic documents.