China Media
About Yang Jiechi’s Instant Noodle Lunch at the US-China Talks in Alaska
Chinese state media want to make sure that you know that top diplomat Yang Jiechi had instant noodles for lunch during the top-level US-China talks in Alaska.
The high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials in Alaska concluded on Friday. While international media describe the talks as “tough” and exposing the “depth of tensions” between the United States and China, many netizens also focus on the smaller events that occurred during the talks.
Besides the cool and collected way in which Chinese interpreter Zhang Jing (张京) went about her job, the fact that Chinese top diplomat Yang Jiechi (杨洁篪) had remarked he had instant noodles for lunch also triggered discussions on Weibo.
Chinese state media outlet CGTN published a short video showing how Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) and Yang walk to enter a session of the high-level talks, with Wang asking Yang “Have you had lunch?” Yang then answers: “Yes, instant noodles.”
The relevant stuff you need to know about the #USChina strategic dialogue: Yang Jiechi tells Wang Yi he had instant noodles for lunch before entering a session of the high-level meeting. pic.twitter.com/5pI3WzIjyX
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) March 21, 2021
The topic was discussed on Weibo in multiple threads and under the hashtags “Yang Jiechi Had Instant Noodles for Lunch” (#杨洁篪午饭吃泡面#) and “The Instant Noodles Yang Jiechi Had for Lunch” (#杨洁篪午饭吃的泡面#). The latter received had 270 million views on Weibo by Sunday evening.
Noteworthy enough, the hashtag page “Yang Jiechi Had Instant Noodles for Lunch” was initiated by Party newspaper People’s Daily. Together with the video published by CGTN, this shows that state media are purposely bringing ‘noodle gate’ to the attention of readers – both inside and outside of China.
Some Chinese news outlets reported that no formal dinner was arranged for the Chinese diplomats at the strategic dialogue due to COVID19, and that their lunch apparently consisted of simple noodles.
On Twitter, Christian Goebbels (@Chri5tianGoebel), Professor of Modern China Studies at the University of Vienna, commented: “My first thought when seeing this was: this is a complaint that the hosts didn’t even serve their guests a proper lunch, which Chinese viewers (and the guests!) would consider incredibly rude. If they wanted to create a good atmosphere, they should’ve served up a banquet.”
Jonathan Sullivan, Associate Professor of Contemporary Chinese Studies at University of Nottingham, called the noodle incident a “meaningful detail” on Twitter (@jonlsullivan), writing: “It fits the narrative that the US is inhospitable & disrespectful, incapable of treating China as a power of equal standing.”
Many netizens on Weibo take a similar stance, writing: “The American etiquette is unsatisfactory,” and: “Let’s not pay attention to food, they completely lack etiquette.”
“Jeez, these Americans don’t even care about food,” others wrote.
“It’s extremely insulting,” one blogger wrote: “This is a superpower, their strategy is despicable, to send our diplomatic staff off with a bucket of noodles!”
On Twitter, George Washington University Law Professor Donald Clarke called ‘noodle-gate’ a “non-story,” saying: “A reliable source tells me that China agreed on no joint meals for Covid reasons. Thus, no big banquet. If someone wants to order noodles instead of a proper meal from room service, they can do that, but it’s their choice, not something forced on them.”
But meanwhile, on Weibo, commenters are adding that plenty of restaurants in Alaska are still operating, suggesting that there would have been options to socialize safely.
In Chinese culture, it is a custom to hold a banquet for business, diplomatic, or even trivial events, with meal gatherings being used as a social lubricant; a way to build and maintain relations.
With food and meal gatherings being such an important part of communicative practices in relationship-building in China, Yang Jiechi having instant noodles by himself for lunch is much more than just that. From the perspective of many Chinese, it shows little consideration for the Chinese cultural background and not a lot of hospitality from the Americans towards their Chinese guests.
The fact that the US-China talks were icy does not help. State media outlet Global Times said that American National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken “unjustifiably attacked and accused China’s domestic and foreign policies” and “seriously prolonged its opening remarks.”
The Chinese delegation blamed the Americans, who invited the Chinese to Anchorage to have the strategic dialogue, for lacking “hospitable [and] good diplomatic etiquette.”
The noodle incident already led to one Guancha blogger coining the term ‘noodle diplomacy’ (“泡面外交”).
“The decline of the US starts with a bowl of instant noodles,” some said on Weibo.
“Let’s at least hope it was a ‘unifying’ beef noodle that he had,” some on Weibo jokingly commented.
Although many see the noodle lunch as a symbol of American inhospitality, there are also many commenters who see it as a practical and safe way to have lunch: “It’s good this way – at least nobody can poison him.”
“I want to know which brand [of instant noodles] he’s having, I want it too!”
By Manya Koetse
Featured image by Miguel Andrade.
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China Media
Slip of the Tongue: Biden Accidentally Says He “Applauds China”
On Weibo, people joke that Biden’s gaffe was a Freudian slip: “He finally said how he really feels about China.”
It was a top headline on Baidu News on Saturday, March 25: while delivering a speech to the Canadian parliament on Friday, U.S. President Biden said he “applauded China for stepping up,” quickly correcting himself and saying he meant to say ‘Canada’ instead of ‘China.’
Biden was giving the speech in Ottowa during a state visit to Canada, during which the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau held bilateral talks discussing various security issues.
In the speech, Biden reaffirmed the strong relations between Canada and the United States.
At the moment of Biden’s gaffe, he said: “So today I applaud China for stepping up,” before correcting himself and making a quick joke: “Excuse me, I applaud Canada. You can tell what I’m thinking…about China. We won’t get into that yet.”
Ahead of the state visit, Trudeau spoke to CNN about U.S.-Canada relations and China, stating that there are areas in which they will “going to have to directly challenge China” on issues such as human rights and security. He said: “We’re going to have to continue to be wide-eyed and clear about the threat that China poses and wants to pose to the stability of our democracies.”
Regarding Biden’s gaffe, Chinese media were quick to jump on it and soon the incident spread on Weibo using various hashtags (“Biden Corrects Himself after Saying He Applauds China” #拜登称为中国鼓掌后改口#; “Biden Accidentally Says He Applauds China” #拜登口误为中国鼓掌#).
Chinese state media outlet Global Times (环球网) posted one of the most popular posts on the matter, which included a video of the moment, receiving over 82,000 likes.
But other big accounts, such as the Communist Youth League, also posted about the moment.
“Even if he dreams, he still thinks of China,” one top comment said, with others replying things such as: “He just can’t keep China out of his mouth.”
Some people also suggested it was a Freudian slip, and that Biden actually said what he was thinking: “Finally he said what he feels!” and “he loves China.”
China’s Communist Youth League also posted a meme about Biden allegedly also saying “US-China relations” instead of “US-Canada relations” during a bilateral meeting in 2021.
At one time in 2022, Biden apparently also mixed up “Ukraine” and “China” during a speech.
By now, Biden’s mix-ups and mistakes have become a regular occurrence, something that was already covered by The New York Times as early as 2019.
One meme on Chinese social media featured Joe Biden and Donald Trump side by side wearing a 1960s PLA uniform, the flag of the Communist Party in the background.
Trump was previously also jokingly called “Comrade Trump” on Chinese social media, saying he was the man “making China great again,” suggesting that his policies and actions inadvertently contributed to China’s rise. For this reason, he was also nicknamed “Build the Country Trump” (川建国) and ‘Comrade Jianguo’ (建国同志 [Comrade Build-Country]).
An older Trump meme, see Twitter thread here.
For a similar reason, Biden is now also nicknamed “Boosting China Biden” (拜振华). Both ‘Build the Country Trump’ and ‘Boosting China Biden’ are written in such ways that they could pass as Chinese names, which is part of the joke.
Some netizens playfully warned Biden and Trump about being careful not to give themselves away: “Please, comrades, be careful about hiding your true identity!”
“Comrade Boost China Biden, thanks for your hard work,” another jokingly wrote.
By Manya Koetse
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By Manya Koetse
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
Get the story behind the hashtag. Subscribe to What’s on Weibo here to receive our newsletter and get access to our latest articles:
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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
China Media
“New Chapter of Sino-Russian Friendship”: Putin Publishes Op-Ed in China’s People’s Daily, Xi in Rossiiskaya Gazeta
In Xi’s piece, the word “China” was the most recurring one. In Putin’s article, the word “Russia” was repeated the most.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday, March 20, for his scheduled state visit to Russia.
During his three-day Moscow visit, Xi will have one-on-one talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the first time Xi visits Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On the first day of the top-level meeting, the Chinese state media outlet People’s Daily headlined that Xi Jinping published an article in the Russian government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta on the occasion of his state visit, while also featuring the news about Putin’s signed article on the front page (the actual article was published on page three).
Meanwhile, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta did the same: they also featured Xi’s publication on the front page of their digital newspaper, while also turning Putin’s contribution to the People’s Daily into one of the main headlines. The newspaper also published a special section dedicated to Sino-Russian friendship.
Xi’s article, in Russian here and in Chinese here, was also translated to English and published by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on their website here.
The article, titled “Forging Ahead to Open a New Chapter of China-Russia Friendship, Cooperation and Common Development” (“踔厉前行，开启中俄友好合作、共同发展新篇章”) mainly stresses the strong bond and mutual trust between China and Russia and the future of Sino-Russian relations, with the word “cooperation” being used 22 times and the word “friendship” used 8 times in the text. The most-mentioned word in the text is “China” (24 times); “Russia” was mentioned 22 times.
“Ukraine” was mentioned three times in one paragraph about the ‘Ukraine crisis,’ which emphasized China’s “impartial position” and its active promotion of peace talks.
Word cloud of Xi’s text for Russian newspaper (What’s on Weibo/Word Art).
The article by Putin is titled “Russia and China – A Future-Bound Partnership” (“俄罗斯和中国——面向未来的伙伴关系”) (link in Chinese, link in English) and it is similar to Xi’s op-ed in multiple ways, and also focused on stressing the special friendship between both countries and how similar they allegedly are in their culture, tradition, and foreign policy.
The article was actually also very similar to an earlier article titled “Russia and China: A Future-Oriented Strategic Partnership” published by Vladimir Putin for Chinese state media outlet Xinhua just before the Winter Olympics and Putin’s visit to China in 2022 (link in English).
The current article condemns America’s role in the international community and thanks China for its approach to the Ukrainian issue. The word that comes up most often in the text is “Russia” (20 times); “China” is mentioned 18 times. Words such as “cooperation” and “partnership” also come up a lot (7 and 5 times respectively).
Word cloud made from Putin’s text for People’s Daily, by What’s on Weibo via Word Art.
The hashtag “Xi Jinping Published Signed Article in Russian Media” (#习近平在俄罗斯媒体发表署名文章#) was posted on social media site Weibo by Xinhua.
China Daily posted images featuring several quotes from Xi’s signed article in Chinese and English.
While it was not the first time for Putin to post an op-ed in a Chinese state media newspaper, it was also not the first time for Xi Jinping to publish a signed article in a Russian government newspaper. He also posted one in 2015 (link in Chinese).
Xi previously also published letters or bylined articles in the media of other countries.
Ahead of his state visit to Finland in 2017, the Finnish newspaper Helsinki Times featured Xi’s article titled “Our Enduring Friendship” (“穿越历史的友谊”). Xi also stressed bilateral relations in letters to the foreign media of countries such as Myanmar, Greece, Nepal, North Korea, and others.
The term used by Xi in the article, “starting a new chapter” (“开启时代新篇章”) was repeated by many commenters replying to the topic on Weibo, where Xi’s Russia visit is covered by many media accounts in videos, text, and images.
In a recent post, political commentator Hu Xijin (@胡锡进) noted how Xi’s Russia visit made international headlines, underlining the major significance of the meeting. Hu wrote that no third party could hinder the “steady development of Sino-Russian relations.” At time of writing, only three out of more than a hundred replies to Hu’s post were displayed – the three replies consisted of hearts and thumbs up emoji only – with the other comments being filtered.
Although the meeting between Xi and Putin was promoted in the Weibo trending lists, most posts about the state visit only allowed some selected replies in the threads below, or simply closed the comment sections. This was also the case went Putin’s annual address in Moscow was featured by various accounts on Weibo.
For more articles on China-Russian relations and related Weibo discussions, check our archives here.
By Manya Koetse
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
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Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.
©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
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whitebtx
March 23, 2021 at 6:07 am
Instant noodles and anal swabs all around!