BEIJING: People in China were having fun watching the landmark visit by US President Donald Trump, creating AI memes and telling light-hearted jokes about his high-profile entourage, though some also complained about disruptions the visit is causing.
A sense of excitement and confidence prevailed on Chinese social media, mostly because people see their nation as finally taking its rightful place as an equal alongside the US. There’s also pride in Trump joining a long line of world leaders visiting Beijing lately, trips that for some cast China as a fount of stability in a world beset by chaos.
"This is the first time in about 130 years that China and the US are conducting dialogue as equal powers,” wrote Weibo user Xing Lida, who has more than 6 million followers. The post came shortly before Trump and Xi sat down for talks and referred to the end of China’s last dynasty, the Qing, when the US became the larger economy.
Trump’s visit to Beijing - the first by a US president in some nine years - has been the top trending topic on the microblogging site Weibo in recent days. People have been posting every detail they could scrounge up about the event, such as photos of the American military transport planes that shipped over Trump’s car and other items, as well as the flight path of Air Force One.
More than 8 million people watched the arrival ceremony for Trump on Wednesday evening on the app for state broadcaster China Central Television, while millions more followed on popular streaming sites such as Douyin.
Trump, who some Chinese have sarcastically nicknamed "nation builder” because they see his America First policies as inadvertently helping their country, also brought along a large business delegation.
Among those figures, Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk and Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang received special attention, particularly for the way the latter jumped on Air Force One at the last minute in Alaska.
Public sentiment in China seems very different from when Trump visited in 2017. Back then, Beijing sought to address Washington’s concerns about commerce, only to see Trump launch a trade war shortly after returning home.
"After all these years, Trump finally figured out it is better to cooperate with China,” another Weibo user wrote.
Chinese internet users also used AI tools to make memes about the summit. One depicted the Nvidia boss showing up at the airport carrying a box of Maotai, a Chinese liquor that’s often given as a gift at gatherings.
Other AI-inspired videos that went viral included one that showed Trump, Xi and some of the CEOs sitting at a roadside table eating meat skewers and downing beers. The clip featured them wearing tank-top shirts - standard attire for such a gathering in summertime Beijing.
People also joked about Huang finally taking off his signature leather jacket and donning a suit when disembarking in Beijing. They also made light of Secretary of State Marco Rubio wearing a tracksuit on Air Force One - in an apparent reference to ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in similar clothing after his capture.
Some residents of the Chinese capital complained about traffic disruptions from Trump’s motorcade. But sightings of the presidential limo known as "The Beast” were also a source of excitement online.
Many people seemed to be wary of reading too much into the summit given Trump’s unpredictable nature.
"Let me pour some cold water on it: Trump is fickle,” one person wrote on Weibo. "China should not have excessively high expectations and must also reserve options if he tears up an agreement at any time afterward.” - Bloomberg
