Peng Liyuan’s English takes center stage in exchange with Melania Trump

China’s first lady Peng Liyuan has drawn attention over her fluency of English-language exchanges with the US first lady without a translator during her visit to Washington with President Xi Jinping this week.

On Wednesday, Chinese leader Xi arrived in Washington along with his wife Peng to attend a summit with the US president and they both were received by Trump and Melania Trump at Joint Base Andrews in a rare diplomatic move.

After stepping off the plane, the two couples spoke with the help of interpreters. While their husbands conversed through an interpreter on the red carpet, Peng and Melania walked closely behind, chatting briefly without visible translation assistance.

As per one US media outlet citing a lip-reading, she seemingly inquired about Trump’s youngest son, Barron. During the exchange, Peng used a hand gesture to indicate height and appeared to say the English word "wonderful."

But during their public outings including a joint tour of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art, the first two ladies were seen chatting comfortably without a visible translator.

Besides drawing the attraction of millions of people, Peng is also praised for her soft power on display by gracefully engaging with a local youth choir, quietly singing along cultural presentations.

China's Washington ambassador, Xie Feng, highlighted her diplomatic role on ⁠X, posting a video of Peng praising the performance.

Peng "encouraged American teenagers to continue studying the Chinese language and ​culture and to become envoys of friendship between China and the United States", Xie wrote.

According to Joe Mazur, geopolitics analyst at Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China, “She helps to put a more ​human face on what otherwise can be some quite hard-nosed diplomacy and generate some kind of feel-good moments as far as US-China relations go.”

Peng Liyuan delivered a speech entirely in English at the UN, 2015 and this clip resurfaced on social media. The footage took the internet by storm and viewers noted she speaks 'better American' than the US first lady, while others credited her background as a trained folk singer who honed pronunciation through practice.