Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs

9/5/2016 3:27:50 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
mrroscoereturns Ochopee, FL 58, joined Oct. 2015	This is kind of bizarre, whether you are an Obama fan or not.. HANGZHOU, China — When Air Force One taxied to a stop in eastern China on Saturday afternoon, American and Chinese officials had already engaged in a lengthy, heated dispute over the most mundane of issues: How would the president depart his plane? China’s handling of President Obama’s arrival for the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hangzhou has created a narrative that the Chinese snubbed the American president. Some Beijing-controlled news outlets are pushing back, fanning nationalist anger by accusing the Americans of arrogance in the squabble. The reality, American officials and diplomats familiar with China say, is both simpler and more complicated. The United States military had flown in a set of rolling air stairs, as it does on all of Mr. Obama’s foreign trips, and the White House had received Chinese approval to use the equipment. But before Mr. Obama’s arrival, a senior administration official said, the Chinese suddenly reversed themselves. The Americans were willing to use a Chinese stairway, this official said, but the Chinese insisted that the stairs be taken to the plane by a local driver, who the Americans said could not communicate with the White House team about even the simplest tasks. So the White House demanded that he be replaced with an English-speaking driver, a request the Chinese refused. As Air Force One was landing, the Chinese relented and told the Americans they could use their own stairs. But by then, officials said, there was no time to make a switch. So the White House decided to forgo the main doorway in favor of a smaller exit in the belly of the aircraft equipped with its own foldout stairs. Mr. Obama generally uses that door only when Air Force One arrives in places, like Afghanistan, with high security concerns. The decision deprived the president of the grand display of descending the stairs from the main doorway to a red carpet. (The carpet was there, but easy to miss, as was Mr. Obama, who popped out as if he were getting off a commuter flight at a municipal airport.) The president walked into a chaotic scene, with Chinese security officials roping off members of the White House press corps to prevent them from recording his arrival. Even the national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, was hassled by security officials. At that point, a Chinese official said in a raised voice to a White House official: “This is our country, this is our airport.” The official’s fury, caught on a cellphone and widely circulated, won glowing approval on one of China’s most powerful government social media sites. On Weibo, the equivalent of Twitter, the Public Security Bureau declared: “This is our country.” “Yup, this is very China!” the account, which has 24 million followers, noted as it showed a clip of Mr. Obama descending the small staircase. The comments on such sites appear only after passing censors. As far as many Chinese were concerned, the Americans were at fault. “America was self-important in Hangzhou, American media falsely accused China,” read a headline on the website of military.china.com, one of many news outlets that carried an article by ifeng.com, the online news site of Phoenix Television, which is based in Hong Kong. The Chinese government worked for more than two years to produce a flawless summit meeting. That the most powerful guest was left to walk down a set of small stairs from the center of his huge plane, Air Force One, left the Chinese blaming the Americans. “China gives the decision making on security to the American side,” said Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University. “China just follows what they want. That’s the traditional practice. The government gets used to this kind of U.S. behavior.” Balance of the story can be read at the link http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/asia/china-obama-group-of-20-summit-airport-arrival.html?_r=0 Meet singles at DateHookup.dating, we're 100% free! Join now!
9/5/2016 5:20:28 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
testsignup Springfield, VA 63, joined Sep. 2009	How insane, that this is being turned into both an international incident, AND a political ping pong swat (Trump already announced that HE would have stayed on the plane and immediately departed China over it, because he's so tough and American).
9/5/2016 5:27:15 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
mrroscoereturns Ochopee, FL 58, joined Oct. 2015	I saw that.. and personally think Obama did the right thing by downplaying the incident.
9/5/2016 11:56:25 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
stellar007 Plymouth, MI 41, joined Dec. 2013	Quote from mrroscoereturns: This is kind of bizarre, whether you are an Obama fan or not.. Yeah, I give Obama a lot of $hit but it really burns my biscuits when other nations do it! Fu@k them!
9/6/2016 2:02:25 AM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
texasproud52 Dallas, TX 56, joined Jul. 2012	I have a hard time garnering any sympathy for the a**hole.
9/6/2016 2:19:21 AM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
mr_bad_robot Cincinnati, OH 42, joined Jul. 2014	Obama is a lame duck
9/15/2016 10:43:51 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
fallguy02379 Brockton, MA 52, joined Sep. 2011	I wonder how Trump would of handled such an "event" though
9/15/2016 10:56:06 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
61falcon New Hope, PA 76, joined Feb. 2008	Your account says that two sets of tall stairs were available,one Chinese one American,the account I read said that the airport had no tall stairs what so ever.So even the reporting of this seems to be screwed up??
9/15/2016 11:41:34 PM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
viper1e Jeannette, PA 58, joined Dec. 2013	Quote from fallguy02379: I wonder how Trump would of handled such an "event" though Really? Donny would have stayed on the plane, stomped his feet, and sued China.
9/16/2016 1:17:42 AM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
wvtravlrr Ravenswood, WV 58, joined Mar. 2013	Was anything wrong with the blow up emergency slide??.. That woildve made the Chinks look like shit..
9/16/2016 7:36:22 AM	Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs
hercules2010 Dubois, IN 56, joined May. 2014	Quote from wvtravlrr: Was anything wrong with the blow up emergency slide??.. That woildve made the Chinks look like shit.. should have been tossed out of the belly of the plane while still flying. without a parachute just bounced around on the tarmac.

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