Obama says his welcome in China was 'overblown'

Vientiane [Laos], Sep. 8 (ANI): United States President Barack Obama has said the reception he got at Hangzhou in China, where he was visiting for the G20 Summit, was blown out-of-proportion and any sensible person would be puzzled by the way the incident was treated. According to reports, Obama was forced to disembark from his plane through a small metal stairway instead of the customary red-carpet staircase that visiting state leaders are usually given. Responding to a poser, Obama said during a press conference at the end of the ASEAN Summit in Laos: "My rebalance policy is based on me going down the short stairs in China; yes, I think that is overblown. And, I think any reasonable person would be puzzled as to how this became somehow indicative of the work that we have done here." He said the concrete work done at the G20 Summit in China is indicative that the incident has had no impact between the relation of the two countries. "If you look at the concrete work that we have gotten done on everything from economic programmes to development programmes to legacy of war issues, promoting civil society and young people; the concern that I have heard is not that what we have done, hasn't been important and successful, the concern what I have heard is will it continue?" Earlier, refuting reports that China did not extend a warm welcome to the U.S. President, Beijing said, the U.S. declined both the red carpet and the staircase. "China provides a rolling staircase for every arriving state leader, but the US side complained that the driver doesn't speak English and can't understand security instructions from the United States, so China proposed that we could assign a translator to sit beside the driver, but the US side turned down the proposal and insisted that they didn't need the staircase provided by the airport," South China Morning Post reported, citing a Chinese Foreign Ministry official. (ANI)