Hong Kong
—
Xi Jinping is not known for his easygoing smile. China’s most powerful communist leader in decades has cultivated a reputation in state media during his 12-year rule as a no-nonsense, steady leader.
But images released by the White House show a different side of Mr. Xi that is not shown in images released domestically.
President Xi attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in South Korea and held bilateral talks with US President Donald Trump at Gimhae Air Base in Busan.
All eyes were on how the leaders of the world’s two largest economies would sort out their differences on topics ranging from soy and fentanyl to rare earth minerals and high-end computer chips.
But apart from the tough diplomacy, photos released by the White House captured a rare candid moment between the two leaders.
In one photo, Trump could be seen holding out his arm over a negotiating table and showing Xi a piece of paper in a room filled with diplomats in suits. What is written or printed on the paper remains unknown.
In another image, the Chinese leader appears to be smiling with his eyes closed, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi laughs next to him. It is unclear whether the images are arranged in chronological order.
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Two days later, Xi was caught on camera joking with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung as they exchanged gifts, according to a Reuters video.
Mr. Li first gave Mr. Xi a wooden chess board for Go. The Chinese leader then gifted Mr. Li and his wife two Chinese-made Xiaomi cellphones, which officials said came with displays made in South Korea, home to electronics giants Samsung and LG.
Mr. Lee then jokingly asked, “What about the security of the communications?” It elicits laughter from the room.
At this point, President Xi laughed and replied, “You just have to find out if there is a backdoor.”
Backdoor risks refer to hidden methods of accessing a user’s device without the user’s knowledge. This issue has caused a lot of suspicion between China and other countries.
The Chinese government recently expressed concern over a US proposal to sell advanced chips with tracking capabilities overseas, prompting US chipmaker Nvidia to say its chips do not have “backdoors”. Meanwhile, many Western countries have raised cybersecurity concerns about certain Chinese-made devices.
Mr. Xi’s two out-of-place moments contrast with his carefully crafted image at home, where he was recently shown presiding over a military parade wearing Mao Zedong costume, a nod to China’s communist founding father Mao Zedong.
Prior to his meeting with President Trump, he chaired a party meeting and delivered a speech that unabashedly demonstrated his tight control over China’s political machine.
Not all Chinese leaders projected such a rigidly constructed image.
Mr. Xi’s predecessor, Mr. Jiang Zemin, served as president from 1993 to 2003 and was known for his flamboyant personality, international flair, and willingness to show off his language skills and interact with journalists.
However, Mr. Xi has indicated a different policy. China has suppressed freedom of expression and strictly controlled its image and the flow of information. Elite politics has become so opaque under Xi’s rule that experts are looking for clues about China’s direction, from parsing the meaning of Xi’s words to evaluating his hair color.
Mr. Xi’s more relaxed international appearance in South Korea has barely reached China’s tightly controlled internet. In the country, where most Western news websites and social media platforms are banned, censors often remove reports about Mr. Xi that deviate from official reporting.
Videos and images of Xi Jinping’s light-hearted exchanges with his American and South Korean counterparts were nowhere to be found on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) and Xiaohongshu, two of China’s most popular social media platforms.
Several posts by Chinese-language news outlets based outside China that reported on the gift exchange between President Xi and South Korea’s Lee were visible on the X-like platform Weibo.
Even though the post had hundreds of messages, only a few users’ comments were visible. Among the reactions that survived, one user posted a thumbs up emoji and another left a smiley face.
