A 12-second video of US military personnel straightening a red carpet at the start of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States has sparked wide discussion on social media. Xi arrived in the United States on Wednesday (September 23) for a three-day state visit.
He was accompanied by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, foreign ministry protocol chief Hong Lei and other members of the delegation. Bilateral talks on trade, artificial intelligence and international relations are the main focus of the visit.
According to reports, the video, filmed after Xi’s plane landed at Joint Base Andrews, shows several US service members on their hands and knees quickly straightening a red carpet about 30 metres (98 feet) long. Before Xi stepped off the plane, they were smoothing out creases and cleaning dirt from the carpet.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, protocol chief Hong Lei and several other Chinese officials could be seen watching the whole scene from the aircraft door.
After the video went viral, many criticised the use of US service members for the task. One user called it “deeply embarrassing”.
“Just when you thought Trump couldn’t humiliate America and himself any further, he sends the US military out on their hands and knees to clean the red carpet so Xi doesn’t get dust on his shoes,” wrote a user named Bill Madden.
Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot from Kentucky and a Democratic Party politician, said US troops did not take an oath to be “props in a show to flatter an authoritarian leader’s ego”.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report