"Yaoji Chaogan, a no-frills canteen next to Beijing's historic Drum and Bell towers, once proudly displayed photographs of Joe Biden, who visited the restaurant when he was US vice-president in 2011. Biden's visit went viral in China, with media praising his noodle diplomacy (one of the dishes that Biden ordered was zhajiang mian, a traditional style of Beijing noodles with bean paste). US presidential visits to China from Nixon to Trump in pictures But evidence of Biden's visit was removed when the restaurant was redecorated a few years ago."
"A visit from a US leader is no longer something to boast about. If US politicians were really smart, they wouldn't try to hold China back, said Liu Cheng, 47, at the restaurant on Wednesday as he tucked into a lunch of steamed baozi and tofu skin salad. Donald Trump arrives in Beijing on Wednesday to a China that has grown in confidence in the nine years since his last state visit, in 2017."
"Although the economy is struggling and wage growth has slowed to less than 2% in real terms in Beijing last year a bullish nationalism is on the rise. It is fanned by state propaganda and by the US's apparent decline into chaos and dysfunction, including the fact that the country managed to elect a leader as unconventional and unpredictable as Trump. Trump's recent foreign policy gambles, from kidnapping the president of Venezuela to launching a war with Iran, have only served to reinforce the view among ordinary Chinese people that the US is a troublemaker."
"The US president has lost his novelty value in China. Where he was once seen as an entertainer, he is now seen as a leader who could pose a real threat to Chinese interests, despite him having described Xi Jinping, China's leader, as a tremendous guy. Liu said whoever was US president, it's more or less the same for ordinary peop"
A canteen near Beijing’s Drum and Bell towers once displayed photographs of Joe Biden after his 2011 visit, but the evidence was removed during later redecorating. A US presidential visit is no longer treated as a point of pride. In Beijing, economic pressures and slowed wage growth coexist with rising bullish nationalism fueled by state propaganda and by perceptions of US dysfunction. Trump’s foreign policy actions, including controversial interventions and war-related moves, reinforce the view that the US is a troublemaker. Trump arrived in Beijing greeted by Vice-President Han Zheng. Ordinary people increasingly see US presidents as potential threats to Chinese interests rather than as novelty figures.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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