The 'red carpet' treatment here is rhetorical, not physical.
When people say 'red carpet' treatment, it is meant to denote the highest level of respect, deference, and appropriate treatment to a person. Even if there is no actual red carpet, it could still be called 'red carpet' treatment.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-snubbed-by-chinese-in-chaotic-arrival-at-g20
To start off...
Weeks or even months before a state visit, the countries' security services were already talking, everything from when the visiting leader arrive on local soil, to who gets to make the official greeting and welcoming.
That mean this event is a deliberate Chinese snub of an American President.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/w...-group-of-20-summit-airport-arrival.html?_r=0
Anything that touches Air Force One must be cleared by the US Secret Service and by extension, the host country would rather have it that way. Less problematic. Let the Americans use their own equipment. Initially, the Chinese agreed, but why the change of mind ?
This is completely unacceptable, not just to the Americans, but to
ANY protective/security detail. If anything happens, the visitors have the right to be able to communicate effectively to anyone associated with the event.
Here is something that most people do not understand...
The first priority of a protection/security detail is
NOT TO FIGHT but to get its charges out of the immediate area and danger. It is only in the movies where bodyguards stands their grounds and shoot it out with the bad guys.
So what was the need for the Chinese to insist that no American equipment are used, after prior agreements between the two countries' security services ? And what was the need to have a Chinese driver of the Chinese equipment ?
None. The Americans brought their own Presidential vehicles, food, security details, and equipment. There were no logistical need for China to make any changes.
The US Secret Service had no chance to compensate. It was too late. The President is already on Chinese soil. The Chinese made the change without informing the Americans. This was unprofessional and undiplomatic.
Have no doubt that the world's diplomatic security services will take note of what China did to the US.
Spare everyone your pretentiousness.
It does not matter if you arrive late. If you are a VIP, the host
WOULD treat you as if you were on time.
Oversized entourage ? According to whose protocols ? By your argument, how would you like it if the US insists that any state visit by a Chinese President have limits to Chinese security details by our demands ?
http://www.economist.com/news/china...bilateral-relationship-g20-leaders-meet-china
Prior to any state visit, the countries' security/protective details talked as to who would be accompanying the visiting leader. The host country have the right to know who enters its country. The visitors have the obligation to respond by producing the identities of who would be entering the host country. This is standard security protocols based on common sense.
No one on the Chinese side recognized Susan Rice as National Security Adviser, a post that is as close to the President as any of his Cabinet Secretaries ?
So which is it, incompetence or deliberate insult ?
In fact, keeping Rice away from Obama could qualify as a terrorist act by the Chinese.
Come to think of it, Chinese do not like blacks anyway, Obama and Rice are blacks. No big deal, right ?