Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a faux pas when Asia Summit: He put the wife of China’s state and party chief Xi Jinping a blanket around her shoulders. A breach of business etiquette – and a lot of work for China’s censors.

As he once wanted to be a gentleman: Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan put a blanket around her shoulders – and gave rise to a small scandal in China. To come as close to a stranger, there is considered to be contrary to the rules of politeness.

The wife of China’s state and party chief Xi Jinping was the gesture apparently very uncomfortable, she thanked Although good for the ceiling, but brushed it off again immediately, and pressed it into the hand of an assistant, who stood ready been alerted.

The scene was broadcast on Chinese state television, and the commentator immediately recognized the gravity of the situation: “Putin has just put his jacket to Peng Liyuan!”

In principle, the gesture of the Russian President was also comprehensible by: The Chinese First Lady was waiting together with the assembled Heads of State and Government at temperatures just above zero degrees on fireworks.

Gaffe at APEC Summit:Peng Liyuan under close observation

The clip spread in China’s social networks, the Twitter-equivalent Weibo there was even briefly a hashtag on “Putin’s Peng Liyuan his jacket,” keyword Coatgate. Among them was to find a lot of praise: “The Russian gentleman,” commented one user. Putin had broken through the processes of boring summit.

Kelly wrote: “Putin flirts with the First Lady!” Other users made jokes about how surprised China’s state and party chief Xi Jinping had watched the scene between Putin and his wife. Then, the censors stepped in. Short term was nothing more to find about the incident at Weibo, some contributions were also later deleted. But the major web portals and news sites reported on the incident.

It is the first time in recent history, the People’s Republic, that the woman on the side of state and party leaders publicly presented as First Lady. The wives of the Chinese leader Xi before had been shown only rarely in public. Therefore, any appearance of Peng Liyuan is following very closely.

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