Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) headed for a traditional British pub on Thursday during his state visit, indulging in a beer and a portion of traditional fish and chips with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
The two world leaders, in suits, but without ties, could be seen awkwardly sipping their ales at The Plough, an establishment close to the British prime minister’s residence of Chequers, northwest of London.
“I dropped into The Plough at Cadsden for a pint of IPA and some fish and chips with China’s President Xi,” Cameron tweeted afterward, along with a picture of him talking to Xi, in which hunting guns could be seen hanging on the bare-brick wall behind them.
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health
Photo: Reuters
The pub’s landlord, Steve Hollings, said that Cameron and Xi had chatted for about three-quarters of an hour and had been “extremely friendly.”
They drank “traditional English bitter” and ate “traditional English fish and chips,” he said proudly. “I was highly delighted.”
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as saying that Xi’s “only problem” was the lack of salt and vinegar on his fish and chips.
The Sunday Times earlier reported that the trip to the pub was Xi’s idea and cited a source involved in negotiations over the visit saying: “It’s all part of the president’s view of himself as a man of the people.”
The Plough traces its history back to the 16th century, when it was a staging post for London coaches.
Its Web site says the pub “is often host to some very famous patrons” and asks visitors to “remember, they are here for the rest and relaxation too.”
The atmosphere proved a little too relaxing for Cameron during a previous visit to the pub in 2012 with his wife, Samantha, when the couple left their eight-year-old daughter behind.
The Camerons only realized their child was not with them when they got home and they went back to pick her up 15 minutes later.
Downing Street declined to say whether Cameron had been drinking.
Cameron himself referred to the incident on Thursday as he chatted with customers at the pub alongside Xi, joking: “I’m not leaving my family in here today.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in