U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen committed a series of diplomatic mistakes in China, where she bowed to her Chinese counterpart multiple times, a protocol error that critics deemed indicative of American weakness, according to "Russia Today."
On the second day of her four-day visit to Beijing, the top official in President Joe Biden's administration bowed to her Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, at least three times, while he stood upright.
Bradley Blakeman, a former senior White House official during George W. Bush's presidency, told The Post, "Never, ever, ever... can an American official bow. It seems she was summoned to the principal's office, and that's exactly the optics the Chinese love."
He added, "The way to deal with an adversary is to not be in their pocket. But with this administration, time and again, we embarrass ourselves and show weakness. This simply demonstrates our lack of effective leverage."
Yellen also erred in naming He, mistakenly referring to him as "Deputy Prime Minister He" during the first official U.S. meeting with the head of economic affairs.
