Hong Kong
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Xi Jinping will not be identified for his straightforward smiles. China’s most highly effective Communist chief in a long time has constructed a fame bolstered by state media throughout his 12-year rule as a critical and regular hand.
But images launched by the White House present a special aspect of Xi – and one not obvious in images revealed at home.
Xi attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea, the place he met US President Donald Trump for a bilateral assembly at Gimhae Air Base in Busan.
All eyes had been on how the leaders of the world’s two greatest economies would kind out their variations on a spread of matters from soybeans and fentanyl to uncommon earth minerals and high-end laptop chips.
But apart from the hard-hitting diplomacy, pictures launched by the White House captured a uncommon candid second between the 2 leaders.
In a room stuffed with suited diplomats, Trump was seen in a single picture along with his arm stretched throughout the negotiation desk to indicate Xi a chunk of paper. Whatever was written or printed on the paper stays unknown.
In one other picture, the Chinese chief seems to smile along with his eyes shut, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi laughing by his aspect. It’s unclear if the images had been organized in chronological order.
China’s Xi within the limelight at APEC summit
Two days later, Xi was caught on digital camera cracking a joke when he exchanged presents with South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung, in accordance with a Reuters video.
Lee first introduced Xi with a picket board for the chess recreation Go. Then, the Chinese chief gave Lee and his spouse two China-made Xiaomi telephones, which an official stated got here with shows made in South Korea, home to digital giants Samsung and LG.
Lee then jokingly requested: “How is the communication security?” drawing laughter from the room.
Xi, who was additionally laughing at this level, replied: “You can check if there’s a backdoor.”
A backdoor danger refers to a hidden methodology of accessing a customers’ system with out them understanding. The concern has prompted a raft of allegations between China and different nations.
Beijing has lately expressed considerations over a US proposal to have superior chips bought overseas fitted with monitoring, a suggestion that prompted US chipmaker Nvidia to say its chips had no “backdoors.” Meanwhile, quite a few Western nations have raised cybersecurity considerations relating to sure China-made gadgets.
The two off-the-cuff moments from Xi distinction along with his fastidiously crafted picture at home, the place he was lately proven presiding over a military parade in a Mao suit, an outfit related to Mao Zedong, Communist China’s founding father.
Before his assembly with Trump, he chaired a celebration plenum, delivering speeches in a stoic demonstration of his tight management over China’s political equipment.
Not all Chinese leaders projected such a tightly constructed picture.
Xi’s predecessor Jiang Zemin, who served as president between 1993 and 2003, was identified for his flamboyant character, cosmopolitan aptitude and willingness to indicate off his language abilities and work together with journalists.
However, Xi has charted a special course. Along with curbing freedom of expression in China, he has maintained strict management of his picture and the stream of info. Elite politics has turn into so opaque underneath his rule that pundits search for any clue for China’s path – from parsing Xi’s phrases for his or her actual that means to assessing the color of his hair.
Xi’s extra relaxed worldwide appearances in South Korea barely made it to China’s tightly managed web. Censors usually take away any protection of Xi that deviates from the official narrative within the nation, the place most Western information web sites and social media platforms are banned.
Footage and images exhibiting Xi’s light-hearted exchanges along with his US and South Korean counterparts had been nowhere to be discovered on two of the nation’s most fashionable social media platforms: Douyin, China’s model of TikTok, and Xiaohongshu.
A couple of posts by Chinese-language information shops primarily based outdoors of China that reported Xi’s present change with South Korea’s Lee had been accessible on X-like platform Weibo.
The posts solely displayed just a few customers’ feedback regardless of a whole lot of messages. Among the reactions that survived, one person posted a thumbs up emoji and one other left a smiling face.