“U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen chooses genuine Cantonese delicacies and makes use of chopsticks effectively,” learn one headline from state broadcaster China Central Tv.
Chinese language social media platforms on Friday had been awash with particulars of Yellen’s first meal in China throughout a week-long go to aimed toward bettering U.S.-China ties and addressing what Washington sees as unfair Chinese language commerce practices. Hashtags associated to Yellen’s eating selections drew nearly 10 million views on Weibo.
The breathless state media protection of her eating selections or dexterity with chopsticks displays an effort by Beijing to solid Yellen’s go to in a constructive gentle, particularly to an more and more anti-American Chinese language public. It underlines how Beijing sees Yellen as maybe its finest hope for bettering commerce ties with Washington and serving to its personal ailing financial system.
“General, Yellen’s go to to China sends a constructive sign relating to the financial and commerce relations between the 2 nations,” the state-run World Instances concluded in an editorial on Thursday. On Friday, Yellen met with the Guangdong governor, Wang Weizhong, and mentioned the USA is just not searching for to “decouple” or lower itself off from the Chinese language financial system.
In a separate assembly with the American Chamber of Commerce, she mentioned she would converse to Chinese language officers this week about unfair commerce practices towards U.S. companies. Earlier than the journey, Yellen additionally mentioned she would increase her issues that overproduction in China is resulting in a glut of exports, particularly in electrical automobiles and different clear expertise.
Particulars in Chinese language media studies embody that Yellen ate at a storied restaurant in Guangzhou frequented by the likes of Chinese language modernist author Lu Xun. She was served a menu of greater than a dozen dishes, together with roast goose and barbecued pork, shrimp dumplings, iced candy and bitter pork and egg tarts.
“What she ordered was very consultant of Cantonese dishes,” a staffer on the Tao Tao Ju restaurant informed Guangzhou Each day Information.
Whereas the restaurant had organized a personal room for Yellen, her workforce requested that partitions be taken down so she might eat alongside different patrons, these studies famous — a element that was confirmed by a Treasury official.
The Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Night Information additionally ran a profile of Yellen’s enthusiasm for meals, together with a Yunnan restaurant she visited final 12 months the place she ate mushrooms that might have hallucinogenic properties if not cooked correctly. (A mushroom casserole was additionally on the menu at Tao Tao Ju.)
“Official public opinion is quietly altering,” standard commentator and former journalist Zhang Feng wrote in an essay on WeChat. Zhang famous that the smooth protection of Yellen’s familiarity and appreciation of Chinese language meals — which some commentators attributed to her time in San Francisco — was paying homage to how Chinese language media reported on the visits of international leaders prior to now.
In 2011, a shock cease at a Beijing eatery by then-Vice President Joe Biden was additionally carefully reported: He ordered noodles, steamed dumplings and chilly appetizers comparable to smashed cucumbers.
Nonetheless, years of worsening ties, in addition to official feedback and state media protection demonizing the USA, have had an affect on Chinese language public opinion. Underneath studies of Yellen’s dinner selections, web customers ridiculed the protection, asking why there was nothing extra substantial to report on.
“How about as an alternative of focusing a lot on what Yellen eats, you give attention to how they plan to make issues troublesome for China,” one mentioned.
Vic Chiang and Pei Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.
