China diplomat Wang Yi’s deft touch with a tie wins online praise
- Foreign minister shows ‘class and respect’ towards his Singapore counterpart in video that has attracted close to a million views
- Mainland internet users also celebrate Wang’s gesture of removing his tie on noticing that his host was not wearing one
Wang and Singapore’s leaders reaffirmed substantive relations in talks which also took stock of bilateral cooperation.
But it was Wang’s gesture ahead of a dinner hosted by his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan that won praise for the Chinese diplomat, in Singapore and at home in China.
In a short video posted on social media platforms, Balakrishnan is seen greeting his guest at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Upon seeing his counterpart not wearing a tie, Wang promptly removes his own.
Wang – China’s top diplomat and foreign policy chief – quickly won praise online for the class and respect on display in the video, which had close to a million views and 28,000 likes, as of Monday afternoon.
One user on video-sharing app TikTok said Wang and his team’s reaction “only demonstrates their humility and true statesmanship”. “Can’t imagine the US doing this,” the user wrote.