There were tense moments upon President Obama’s arrival in Hangzhou, China, Saturday for an international summit.
As the president disembarked from Air Force One, a Chinese official screamed at U.S. reporters to move away, yelling “this is our country.” He also yelled at a White House official and seemingly tried to block National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice and her deputy, Ben Rhodes from getting closer to the president.
A Secret Service agent intervened with the Chinese official who confronted Ms. Rice on the tarmac. The altercation occurred out of sight of Mr. Obama.
Asked by a reporter what happened, Ms. Rice said Chinese officials “did things that weren’t anticipated.”
Later, at a ceremony ratifying the Paris climate-change agreement, U.S. officials and their Chinese counterparts got into a screaming match at a security checkpoint.
U.S officials could be heard arguing in Chinese with Chinese security officials over how many Americans could be allowed to go through security at a time. As the disagreement escalated, a Chinese official assisting the Americans grew angered by how guards were treating the White House staff and began yelling, nearly coming to blows with a Chinese security official, according to a pool reporter traveling with the president.
“You don’t push people. No one gave you the right to touch or push anyone around,” he yelled in Chinese at one of the security officials.
An unidentified White House official pleaded with Chinese staffers, “Calm down please. Calm down.”
Once inside the venue, White House press officers engaged in another fight over how many American journalists would be allowed.
“You are only allowed 10,” said a Chinese official.
“That’s not right,” said a White House staffer.
The journalists eventually were allowed in.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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