Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is being severely criticized for bowing multiple times to a Chinese official during her recent trip to Beijing.
Yellen bowed at least three times during a photo op handshake with Vice Premier He Lifeng, China’s top economic official, according to the New York Post.
“Never, ever, ever,” said Bradley Blakeman, a White House aide under former President George W. Bush.
“An American official does not bow. It looks like she’s been summoned to the principal’s office, and that’s exactly the optics the Chinese love.”
WATCH: Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen completely embarrasses the United States as she bows multiple times to the Chinese Economy Czar and calls him the wrong name.
During her meeting to heal relations with China, Yellen bowed multiple times as Vice Premier He Lifeng… pic.twitter.com/Zjz1ejOpcH
— ??Travis?? (@Travis_in_Flint) July 8, 2023
“The way to treat an adversary is, you don’t go hat in hand. But with this administration, time and time again, we embarrass ourselves and show weakness. And it just shows the lack of effective leverage we have,” he continued.
“Bowing is not part of the accepted protocol,” said Jerome A. Cohen, an emeritus professor at New York University with expertise in Chinese law and government.
SHAMEFUL: Watch U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen BOWS REPEATEDLY to Chinese Communist Party Vice Premier
Expectations were decidedly low from the outset, but no matter how low we set the bar, the Democrat regime always manages to go lower.https://t.co/lfwpIbgKtz
— ?? Pamela Geller ?? (@PamelaGeller) July 9, 2023
The Post noted that as Yellen spoke of coexisting with China, 13 People’s Liberation Army aircraft and six ships went into the airspace and waters near Taiwan, which China claims should rightfully be a part of the communist nation.
He said the United States must bear the blame for the distance between the two nations.
“We wish the U.S. side would take a rational and practical attitude, meet with the Chinese side half-way, make joint efforts with China in maintaining the consensus reached between the two state leaders in their meeting in Bali, and put the positive remarks into actions, so as to stabilize and improve the China-U.S. relations,” he said, according to Fox News.
The village crazy lady goes to China. She did not realize bowing as an American official was a breach of protocol. They don’t reciprocate. He even backs away to give her more space to kowtow.https://t.co/FXHdO6Cii1
— Max Murray (@MaxMurrayTweets) July 8, 2023
Although Yellen said that talking was a positive step, the trip produced no agreements, according to The New York Times.
“Yellen’s trip will likely turn down the temperature on the economic relationship for a bit and remind the U.S. and China that they share some commercial interests, even if waning, and they need to talk through thick and thin — perhaps business conditions will improve at the margins,” said Mark Sobel, a former Treasury Department official.
“Yellen’s trip will hardly change the underlying dynamic and trajectory of the economic relationship,” he said.
Still, Yellen was upbeat.
“President Biden and I do not see the relationship between the U.S. and China through the frame of great power conflict,” she said, according to Politico. “We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive.”
Yellen said the trip gave the two sides the chance to “establish a desire and willingness to work together to discuss issues where we have disagreements and see deeper engagement on the part of our staffs.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.