A video clip showing uniformed US military personnel on their hands and knees making last-minute adjustments to a red carpet has gone viral online, with critics pointing to the lavish welcome President Donald Trump rolled out for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews.
The 12-second clip, which circulated widely on US social media, captured several service members hurriedly smoothing and cleaning the 30-metre (98-foot) carpet moments before Xi emerged from his aircraft.
Chinese officials – including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the ministry’s protocol chief Hong Lei – can be seen watching the operation from the aircraft doorway.
Trump delivered an unusually lavish welcome. It is rare for a US president to greet a foreign leader plane-side at Joint Base Andrews. In 1962, John F. Kennedy travelled to the base to meet the British prime minister Harold Macmillan as he landed.
The ceremony this time included military flyovers by two B-1 Lancer bombers, six F-16 and six F-22 fighters, along with honour guards and a 21-gun salute. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at the foot of the aircraft stairs to greet Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan as they descended.
The brief clip drew immediate criticism from some US social media users, who described it as degrading to American military personnel given the geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing.
One commenter said it was “freaking shameful” while others drew comparisons with Trump’s treatment of other world leaders. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Xi get the red carpet treatment. Volodymyr Zelensky and Carney get the cold shoulder. Shows you who Trump views as his allies.”
Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot and Democratic Party politician from Kentucky, commented that US service members did not “swear an oath to be props in some authoritarian ego-stroking spectacle”.
The episode underscores the different approaches to diplomatic ceremony of the two superpowers.
For Beijing, where protocol and the concept of “face” carry profound political weight, such welcoming ceremonies are painstakingly prepared to the finest detail. Washington’s more improvised approach reflects a different institutional culture, less focused on ceremonial perfection.
While the viral footage provided critics with potent ammunition, analysts cautioned against reading too much into the ceremonial polish, emphasising that both countries retained formidable capabilities in their respective spheres of influence.
An airport greeting is one aspect of China’s elaborate diplomatic choreography. When Trump visited Beijing in May, he was greeted by Vice-President Han Zheng, a senior state-level official who, despite not serving on the Politburo Standing Committee since 2022, holds a more elevated position in the national hierarchy.
The lavish welcome for Xi comes as Trump’s US$400 million White House ballroom remains under construction, roughly 65 per cent complete and not expected to be finished until August 2028.
Trump has long complained that the White House lacks a proper large-scale venue for hosting state dinners and major events, forcing the administration to rely on temporary facilities. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
