Xi wanted to show he had the upper hand

 

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Five things we learned from the China-US talks after President Xi calls a surprise meeting with Antony Blinken - ABC News    . . ."There was also a conspicuous lack of red carpet to welcome the first US secretary of state on Chinese soil since Trump-appointed Mike Pompeo visited Beijing in October 2018.

"In a country where optics mean everything, Mr. Xi was sending "a clear message" to his people, according to Ms Schneider.

"I think it was very obviously a carefully orchestrated affair," she said.

" 'If you look at that table, Mr Xi was all by himself at the head of the table, and the Blinken team was off to the side. That's a very clear message that he wanted to show to his people that he had the upper hand in this relationship.

" 'I think both the US and China are very interested in showing their respective domestic populations that they're not being overly conciliatory or even moderately conciliatory towards the other side."

' 'State media had criticized video showing Mr Blinken's arrival in the Chinese capital under a sky cast in a dark filter, with the international press accused of "maliciously fabricating the weather in Beijing as cloudy and hazy". . .