Late last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen embarked on her trip to China, which Reuters described as a trip "focused on easing tensions between the world's two largest economies, despite low expectations on both sides." It would be more accurate to say there were no expectations, given the embarrassment of Yellen bowing not once, or twice, but three times to Vice Premier He Lifeng, her Chinese counterpart. He did not reciprocate, but rather stepped back to give her even more space to bow. In addition to the bowing, Yellen also moments later referred to He as "Vice Premier Hu."
WATCH: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — in an embarrassing “diplomatic faux pas” — repeatedly bows to Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing pic.twitter.com/iYcA7Jmuz6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 9, 2023
The move wasn't just embarrassing because He didn't reciprocate. The New York Post included in their coverage comments from experts who know better.
"Never, ever, ever," Bradley Blakeman, a senior staffer in George W. Bush’s White House, told the outlet. "An American official does not bow. It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love," he added.
"The way to treat an adversary is, you don’t go hat in hand," Blakeman is later quoted as saying. "But with this administration, time and time again, we embarrass ourselves and show weakness. And it just shows the lack of effective leverage we have."
"Bowing is not part of the accepted protocol," Jerome A. Cohen, an emeritus professor at NYU and expert in Chinese law and government, also shared.
The Daily Caller cited an ABC News article from 2017 in their coverage, which noted that "State Department protocols advise U.S. diplomats and presidents to be sensitive to local customs but do not advise bowing." Bowing is more typical in Japan.
As China Highlights, a tour company, explained in its "Dos and "Don'ts" etiquette guide, "Bows are best saved for your visit to Japan or Korea."
In addition to addressing economic matters in a time of tension, Yellen also brought up the Biden administration's talking point to discuss climate change.
It was great to speak with leaders in efforts to combat climate change while in Beijing, China. Climate change is a critical global challenge and it’s crucial that the two largest economies in the world work together on this and other issues. https://t.co/IM6TjKnBwH
— Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) July 9, 2023
Stunningly enough, though, Yellen actually regarded the meetings as "productive" and said that "broadly speaking, I believe that my bilateral meetings--which totaled about 10 hours over two days--served as a step forward in our effort to put the U.S.-China relationship on surer footing."
"The U.S. and China have significant disagreements. Those disagreements need to be communicated clearly and directly," Yellen acknowledged, only to then make it seem like the administration doesn't take those "significant disagreements" all that seriously. "President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict," she continued with. "We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive. Both nations have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship: to find a way to live together and share in global prosperity."
In case we needed any more reminder about how China is almost certainly laughing at us, go ahead and watch the clip of Yellen bowing a few more times.
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