Xi Jinping cracks joke about spying with phones given to South Korean president | Xi Jinping
It would take someone with nerves of steel to joke about the security of Chinese smartphones in front of Xi Jinping.
Step forward South Korean President Lee Jae Myung wondered aloud whether the devices were safe after being given a pair of smartphones by the Chinese leader ahead of a state banquet over the weekend.
Xi, not known for public displays of humor, laughed as Lee’s joke was translated into Chinese and then displayed his own sharp wit.
He pointed to the phones and invited Lee to “check if there’s a backdoor”, prompting laughter and applause from his South Korean counterpart.
The pleasant exchange took place as Xi and Lee exchanged gifts during the Apec summit in Gyeongju, South Korea; It was Xi’s first visit to the country in more than a decade.
The Chinese president presented Lee with two Xiaomi smartphones equipped with Korean-made displays, and Lee asked: “Is the communication line secure?”
Pointing to phones still in their boxes, Xi responded: “You should check if there is a backdoor”; This is a reference to pre-installed software that may allow third-party tracking.
The US has warned that Chinese smartphones and the apps they use may have “back doors” that could be used by hackers to exploit weak links in other countries’ cyber defences. The Chinese government has denied allegations of cyber espionage.
leaders’ speech, caught This incident, captured by TV cameras, attracted a great deal of media attention in South Korea, as Xi rarely jokes, especially about such a sensitive topic as espionage.
“Xi burst into laughter after Lee joked about the security of Xiaomi Phones,” said a headline in the Seoul Shinmun newspaper on Monday.
The interaction was a particularly rare glimpse of Xi’s unfiltered self. Another recent memory was when a conversation about organ transplants and immortality between Xi and arguably the world’s two most secretive leaders – North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin – was recorded on a hot microphone at a Chinese military parade in Beijing in September.
In a live broadcast by state media of the trio marching to Tiananmen Square, Putin’s translator was caught saying in Chinese: “Biotechnology is constantly improving.”
“Human organs can be transplanted continuously. The longer you live, the younger you become and even achieve immortality,” he said.
Xi responded on camera: “Some estimate that people may live to be 150 this century.”
Clips of the Xi-Lee exchange in Gyeongju gained traction online, with one YouTube user comparing the encounter to “martial arts masters competing against each other in a duel.”
Lee’s spokesman, Kim Nam-joon, said the moment of levity was evidence that the two leaders had grown closer in various meetings during the two-day summit.
“From welcoming ceremonies and gift exchanges to banquets and cultural shows, both leaders had many opportunities to interact and build personal chemistry,” Kim said. “If there wasn’t that chemistry, this kind of prank wouldn’t be possible.”
Xi did not leave empty-handed. Lee gave him a hand-carved Go board and a mother-of-pearl tray, among other gifts.
Xi, who, like Lee, is a keen player of the ancient strategy board game, described the board as “excellent”, according to South Korean media.
