The 3-and-a-half minute video is set in part to a smooth jazz-polka rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, the bespectacled late folk singer who has always been something of a pop demigod in China.
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Yang’s repatriation shows that “China is getting more worldwide support and assistance on our efforts to combat corruption, pursue fugitives and recover illicit assets overseas… and lays solid foundation for further bilateral cooperation”, said Hong Lei, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Thirty years ago, a Chinese young man as handsome as “Professor Du” embarked on a work trip in the United States“, says a voice-over in an animated video “Trailer: Xi Dada’s seven day U.S. trip”, likening Xi to a heartthrob in a Korean soap opera. “Our respective fears are nearer to outweighing our hopes than at any time since normalization”.
In the era of Red China, Mao Zedong was portrayed as a God-like figure, the “great helmsman” who led his people out of poverty and stood up to foreign imperialist forces. For this objective, Xi Jinping has put forward a proposal to construct a “new type of great power relations” with the U.S. Unfortunately, feedback on the idea has been chilly.
The two countries will brace for more common interests and broader cooperation, not the other way around, Xi said. However, close cooperation on these issues will not guarantee the peaceful resolution of the disputes between them, such as the wrestling over maritime and cyber issues and the inevitable scramble for financial and economic influence, all of which can be reduced to the redistribution of power and reset of global orders or norms.
Since YouTube is blocked in China, the video was obviously intended for a foreign audience. Addressing the distrust and fear should be a key mission for both leaders. She is seeking asylum in the US. On this area, perhaps more than the others, Xi and Obama may have to agree to disagree. The People’s Daily posted photos of the table settings for Xi’s state dinner on Friday night, as well as the menu, which included Maine lobster with spinach, shiitake mushrooms and leek rice noodle rolls, and grilled Colorado lamb with garlic fried milk and baby broccoli.
The United States lacks an extradition treaty with China and is wary that the country’s opaque court system may be unfair to defendants, so it has typically been cautious in turning Chinese nationals over to Beijing, making the US a top destination for corrupt Chinese officials.
Qi Hao is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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“I think the students were being polite and were naive about the worldwide reaction”, said Paul Gillis, an American and co-director of Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management in China.
