Shanghai, China – “The Chinese take pride in their food,” reads a memo prepared for US President Richard Nixon before his groundbreaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972. Nixon's lavish state banquet with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing , broadcast live across the world, was crucial in improving American public opinion about a country that had been hidden from view for decades.
More than half a century later, food is once again playing a central role in fostering warmer relations between the United States and China. As Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently concluded their second visits to China in less than a year, meals have become a key ingredient in stabilizing ties between the two countries, as officials on both sides seek to harness the potential of what has been called “food diplomacy.”
Yellen's visit in early April was notable for the Chinese public's level of attention to its food choices. Anticipation was high after her first visit last July, when her choice of a Beijing restaurant serving authentic food from the country's southern Yunnan province, including mushrooms that can have psychedelic effects if cooked incorrectly, became one of the favorites of social networks in China.
This time, it wasn't just his choice of authentic Cantonese and Sichuan food that made headlines, but also his use of chopsticks at a popular Guangzhou restaurant founded in 1880, reminiscent of Nixon's own chopstick skills that They also impressed their hosts in 1972.
Although Yellen has been known to sample local food during her travels in the United States, the symbolic meaning of doing so in China was especially pronounced, according to Thomas DuBois, a China historian who teaches at Beijing Normal University.
“In China, food is the language of diplomacy and the Chinese are rightfully proud of their culinary culture. She [Yellen] I knew that the way he ate would greatly influence his visit,” DuBois told Al Jazeera.
“If you eat badly in China, because it's a very food-obsessed culture, it's more than a sign of bad taste, it's a sign that there's something weird about you.”
DuBois noted that one of the most common phrases used to describe Yellen's way of eating in China was “qianxu,” or humility, an “extremely important” character trait for the Chinese.
“Eating well and knowing how to eat is a deep moral philosophy in China that really comes down to being humble enough to change yourself based on what needs to happen, like coming here and using chopsticks,” he said.
The importance of food to diplomacy is well known among foreign diplomats in China. According to a diplomat from a major European country in Beijing, eating together is a top priority when interacting with Chinese officials.
“In high-level bilateral meetings, it's incredibly important to have a food element on the program because that's where you can have an open and frank conversation,” he said, preferring not to be identified. “Dinners are used strategically by both parties to create a relationship of trust,” he said.
Before the diplomat was sent to Beijing, part of his training was related to Chinese banquet customs, including who sits where at the table and the rules surrounding toasts. His country's ministers are also briefed on these customs before meeting their Chinese counterparts, he added.
Still, banquets can be complicated affairs. In addition to complicated customs, the complex nature of Chinese cuisine, which uses a wide range of ingredients, can create challenges in establishing a good relationship with food, especially food allergies, which are relatively uncommon in China.
At a recent banquet in Beijing hosted by the Chinese, each visiting European minister had a different allergy, from lactose intolerance to shellfish.
“A Chinese employee came up to me and told me that they had a lot of difficulty planning this dinner for us because our ministers have many different allergies,” the diplomat said. “These differences in eating habits can complicate things and create a lot of stress and anxiety.”
Warm coverage
The seven-second viral video of Yellen's chopstick skills was first posted by a social media account believed to be run directly by Beijing. Several state media published the full details of Yellen's dining itinerary, including every dish she ate.
In an essay on the popular Chinese app WeChat, veteran commentator and former journalist Zhang Feng noted that Chinese state media's coverage of Yellen's softer side was a departure from the “cold” reporting on U.S. officials in recent years. .
“Yellen's trip to China may to some extent improve the anti-American sentiment of ordinary Chinese people,” Zhang wrote. Chinese public opinion of the United States deteriorated sharply during the presidency of Donald Trump, who ate “Americanized” Chinese food during his 2017 state visit, recovering slightly since President Joe Biden took office.
The warmer coverage is consistent with Chinese state media's changing tone on US-China relations in recent months, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seeks to stabilize bilateral relations amid domestic economic challenges.
The practice has historical roots. Chinese officials also used food to improve perceptions of the United States in the run-up to Nixon's visit in 1972. Photos of American friends of the regime, such as journalist Edgar Snow, attending to various state banquets. .
However, there has also been a nationalist backlash against the recent softening of rhetoric.
The outspoken tabloid Global Times said in an editorial that “
Another vocal critic, former Xinhua news agency journalist Ming Jinwei, accused his compatriots of being “hopelessly in love” with the United States in a WeChat essay and referred to them as “spiritual Americans.” He claimed that the United States' reputation is now “bankrupt” in China, which he described as “a good thing.”
The debate over how the CCP should shape domestic opinion toward the United States was evident in the much cooler reception Blinken received during his visit in late April, which included meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
While Blinken also ate at authentic restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, and the US embassy even shared a clip of him with a popular Chinese food vlogger showing off his chopstick skills, his eating habits received far less attention than Yellen's. .
The social media account that raved about Yellen's ability to use chopsticks did not share any videos of Blinken's culinary adventures. Instead, he emphasized Chinese talking points about the United States' “wrong words and deeds” on several red line issues at the center of US-China tensions, including Taiwan, the South China Sea and Ukraine.
On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of in Gaza.
The hashtag related to the interview entered the top 10 of the site's most discussed topics on April 28, racking up more than 67 million views as of Tuesday. By contrast, several hashtags about Yellen's eating habits racked up a total of 39 million views.
It's unclear whether the BBC interview went viral organically. Weibo has previously been accused of manipulating its hashtag ranking system, with hashtags related to international politics prone to manipulation.
On Saturday night, the Shanghai restaurant Blinken visited was 80 percent full. One staff member said the restaurant's location in a tourist hotspot meant they were always busy and that Blinken's visit had not led to an increase in customers.
However, other countries have also recognized the power of food diplomacy.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron thanked visiting Xi after a several-hour meeting in Paris for his “openness” to not imposing preventive tariffs on French cognac. Beijing had launched an anti-dumping investigation into European brandy in January, seen by some as a response to a European Union investigation into Chinese electric vehicles.
Macron later took Xi and his wife to the Pyrenees, where they nibbled on cheese and enjoyed some wine.
And what did Macron's parting gift to Xi include? Two bottles of cognac, of course.
