G20 ‘staircase snub’ for Obama was United States’ decision, reveals Chinese official
Foreign ministry official says Washington turned down Beijing’s proposal to provide rolling red-carpet stairway for US leader when he arrived at Hangzhou airport for G20 summit
It was Washington’s decision to have US President Barack Obama disembark from his plane through a small bare metal stairway instead of the usual rolling red-carpet staircase that state leaders get, a Chinese foreign ministry official has revealed.
Speculation has been flying about whether China was deliberately snubbing Obama since media reports on Saturday showed the US leader exiting the Air Force One through the small stairway.
But this was not the case, according to the Chinese official involved in the diplomatic arrangements.
“China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the US side complained that the driver doesn’t speak English and can’t understand security instructions from the United States; so China proposed that we could assign a translator to sit beside the driver, but the US side turned down the proposal and insisted that they didn’t need the staircase provided by the airport,” the official told the South China Morning Post on Sunday.
It would do China no good in treating Obama rudely, added the official, who declined to be named as she was not authorised to speak to the press.
