CCTV FOLLIES 11.17 XI, THE APEX OF APEC?

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The first shot is easy on the eyes for the veteran CCTV viewer because Xi appears to be more or less center stage and holding his own as ballast for the room. But the zoom out that follows is a reminder that the APEC meeting is on foreign soil, with Biden placed front and center as hometown host, and Xi shuffled off to the side.

This disconcerting displacement of the exalted one is eased over by a gentle voice-over narration that unwaveringly keeps the focus on Xi and the profound proposals that Xi put forward to the Pacific community of nations.

Order quickly restored as CCTV cameras shift the focus back to the star of the show.

Meetings on the sideline are made to look like the main event. Flags, flowers and seating arrangements follow the Great Hall model, but the plain conference room in the Moscone center can hardly compare.

Last and least, after a series of meetings that demand more respect and more urgent diplomatic attention, such as Mexico, Peru, Brunei and Fiji, Xi greets Japan’s Kishida.

It’s a rare meeting and encouraging to see the two giants of East Asia talk, but naturally Xi is shown to dominate the session. Xi gives the mild-mannered Kishida a profound, albeit somewhat world-weary, lecture during which the Japanese prime minister scribbles like a diligent pupil listening to teacher, at least as CCTV frames it.

US China experts and friendship specialists uniformly ooze praise of “Chairman Xi,” at least according to the translations in the subtitled text.

(The word “president” is used only in English, in Chinese the head of state is “the Chairman”)

Chas. Freeman, first in the series of China friends below, is a true veteran and all-weather supporter of US-China relations, having served as interpreter to Nixon during the Mao meet.