Four Odd Things About Xi Jinping’s Trip to South Korea

South Korean president holds summit with China's Xi Jinping

[People’s Daily News Report] On October 30, 2025, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping arrived in Busan, South Korea. After meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, he proceeded to Gyeongju to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on October 31.

Xi’s visit to South Korea drew intense media and public attention, with four main points becoming the focus.

1. Why Did Xi Jinping Read His Speech Without Ever Looking Up?

The most unexpected aspect of the Trump–Xi meeting was Xi Jinping’s entire performance of “head down, reading script + oversized font notes.”

When the camera zoomed in, the notebook before Xi showed extraordinarily large characters—some even appeared to have pinyin annotations. The X account “Israel War” noted that one visible line read “fen tai ni (芬太尼)”—the word “fentanyl” written in pinyin.

Many observers pointed out that it’s not unusual for heads of state to read prepared remarks. However, Xi’s behavior—never looking up, no spontaneous interaction with Trump across the table—seemed particularly striking.

Rumor has it that Trump was intrigued by Xi’s “giant-font script,” occasionally glancing at it with a half-smiling expression.

Online discussions of phrases such as “Xi Jinping reads script without looking up” and “Trump peeking at notes” quickly went viral. Some joked, “This isn’t a diplomatic meeting, it’s a Chinese-language exam.” Others mocked, “It turned into a reading-recitation contest.” One user quipped that Trump “looked like he was reading an exam paper while the test-taker buried his head in it.”

Compared with Trump’s relaxed, fluent manner, Xi’s head-down reading highlighted the gap between them—something many attributed to Xi’s declining health, reduced concentration, and fear of mispronouncing words.

2. Why Did Xi Suddenly Become ‘Taller’?

Sharp-eyed netizens noticed that during the Trump–Xi meeting, Xi—normally about 178 cm tall—appeared nearly the same height as the 190 cm Trump. But in their 2017 photo taken during Trump’s visit to Beijing, Trump was clearly half a head taller.

This was not the first time Xi had “grown taller.” When Xi met former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (height 1.78 m) in 2015, they appeared roughly the same height. Yet by their second meeting in 2024, Xi somehow stood half a head taller.

Netizens speculated that Xi must have been wearing height-boosting shoes or had hidden lifts inserted inside. The motive, they said, was to create the illusion of a more imposing “leader image,” a familiar trick of the CCP’s propaganda apparatus. Ironically, it backfired—exposing Xi’s vanity and turning him into an international laughingstock.

3. Why Did Xi Break Tradition by Staying in a Four-Star Hotel?

On his foreign trips, Xi typically books entire luxury hotels and travels with an enormous entourage. For instance, during his August 21–24, 2023 trip to Johannesburg for the BRICS summit, Chinese staff cleared his entire hotel suite and replaced everything—from cups, bowls, beds, and mattresses to carpets and curtains—with items shipped from China. This reflected both Xi’s obsession with personal security and his extravagant habits.

This time, however, things were different. Although Gyeongju has several five-star hotels fully suited to Xi’s taste for grandeur, he instead stayed at the four-star Kolon Hotel—raising questions about what lay behind the unusual choice.

Some analysts believe Xi’s decision to stay at a four-star hotel may not have been voluntary, but rather connected to the post–Fourth Plenum power struggles within the CCP, signaling a possible decline in his internal authority.

Others suggested Xi chose the Kolon Hotel for enhanced privacy and security, and to minimize exposure to protests.

4. Why Was Xi Seen Looking Around for a Translator?

Media footage on October 31 showed world leaders attending the APEC meeting. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim approached Xi, who was seated, to greet him. Xi quickly stood up with a smile—but seemed unable to understand a word, awkwardly glancing around for a translator.

At that moment, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a male interpreter, both standing at a distance, rushed over in panic to rescue the situation. The male interpreter looked visibly alarmed, and Xi’s security guards exchanged tense looks.

This awkward interaction between Xi and Anwar sparked wide discussion online. Many netizens mocked that Xi—allegedly having only an elementary-school level education—doesn’t understand foreign languages and cannot function without a translator.
△