Did China Snub Obama on Arrival? President Plays Down Confrontation
HANGZHOU, China--When Air Force One taxied to a stop here Saturday afternoon, U.S. 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 Barack Obama’s arrival for the Group of 20 summit meeting here has created a narrative that the Chinese snubbed the American president. The reality, U.S. officials and diplomats familiar with China say, is both simpler and more complicated.
The U.S. military had flown in a set of rolling air stairs, as it does on all of Obama’s foreign trips, and the White House had received Chinese approval to use the equipment. But before 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. Obama generally uses that door only when Air Force One arrives in places, like Afghanistan, with high security concerns.
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