Great snub in China. Barry is over there for the G20 economic summit. From the UK Guardian:
Barack Obama 'deliberately snubbed' by Chinese in chaotic arrival at G20
China’s leaders have been accused of delivering a calculated diplomatic snub to Barack Obama after the US president was not provided with a staircase to leave his plane during his chaotic arrival in Hangzhou before the start of the G20.
Chinese authorities have rolled out the red carpet for leaders including India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, and the British prime minister, Theresa May, who touched down on Sunday morning.
But the leader of the world’s largest economy, who is on his final tour of Asia, was forced to disembark from Air Force One through a little-used exit in the plane’s belly after no rolling staircase was provided when he landed in the eastern Chinese city on Saturday afternoon.
When Obama did find his way on to a red carpet on the tarmac below there were heated altercations between US and Chinese officials, with one Chinese official caught on video shouting: “This is our country! This is our airport!”
“The reception that President Obama and his staff got when they arrived here Saturday afternoon was bruising, even by Chinese standards,” the New York Times reported.
Follow the links and you will see the leaders of these nations on a red-carpeted wide movable stairway and there is a carpet on the pavement as well. Obama is exiting through a crew door on Air Force One - this is from the lower deck of the plane - the crew and cargo spaces and not the Presidential Cabin. A definite snub and I bet he is fuming about it - he is known for having an inflated self-image as well as quite the temper when he does not get his own way..
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