Video of US military adjusting red carpet for China’s Xi sparks online backlash

A video clip showing uniformed US military personnel on their hands and knees making last-minute adjustments to a red carpet has gone viral online, with critics pointing to the lavish welcome President Donald Trump rolled out for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews.

The 12-second clip, which circulated widely on US social media, captured several service members hurriedly smoothing and cleaning the 30-metre (98-foot) carpet moments before Xi emerged from his aircraft.

Chinese officials – including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the ministry’s protocol chief Hong Lei – can be seen watching the operation from the aircraft doorway.

Trump delivered an unusually lavish welcome. It is rare for a US president to greet a foreign leader plane-side at Joint Base Andrews. In 1962, John F. Kennedy travelled to the base to meet the British prime minister Harold Macmillan as he landed.