US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made the unusual gesture of bowing to a Chinese official during her visit to Beijing on Saturday. Footage shows her walking up to Vice Premier He Lifeng, her Chinese counterpart, and bowing several times while shaking his hand enthusiastically.
Speaking to the media about this episode, former White House staffer Bradley Blakeman, who served in the administration of President George W. Bush, excoriated Yellen's gesture as indecent.
“Never, ever, ever, an American official does not bow,” Blakeman said. “It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love.”
Similar sentiments were aired over the Internet as social media users savaged the behavior of the US Treasury chief.
"I saw that on the news. What a disgusting display of weakness!!" one user said, reacting to the US official's gesture of bowing.
"Yellen knows who her master is..." another netizen chimed in.
Yellen is visiting China from July 6-9. She is scheduled to meet with senior Chinese officials and discuss several economic issues with them amid rising tensions over trade restrictions.
The US official also met with the Communist Party chief at the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, discussing economic and financial issues of common interest.
The Treasury chief's visit to China is taking place amid increased economic and financial contradictions between the two countries. The main sore points are the growing restrictions on exports of US goods and services, the persistence of import duties on Chinese goods, Washington's threats against Beijing over Chinese cooperation with Moscow, surging world trade in yuan and the dwindling influence of the US dollar across the globe.