‘Barbarian’ UK media slammed

China hits back on queen’s comments

THE British media is riddled with “barbarians” who would benefit from a lesson in manners from China’s ancient civilisation, a state-run newspaper said yesterday after Queen Elizabeth called some Chinese officials “very rude”.

In a rare diplomatic gaffe, the British monarch was caught on camera at a Buckingham Palace garden party making unguarded comments about a state visit last year by President Xi Jinping that drummed up billions in Chinese investment.

The remarks made headlines worldwide on Wednesday, but initially they were largely censored in China, blacked out of BBC World transmissions, according to the British broadcaster.

The Global Times newspaper, which is close to China’s ruling Communist Party, blamed the British media for blowing the incident out of proportion and fawning over the footage as if it was “the most precious treasure”.

“The West in modern times has risen to the top and created a brilliant civilisation, but their media is full of reckless ‘gossip fiends’ who bare their fangs and brandish their claws and are very narcissistic, retaining the bad manners of ‘barbarians’,” it said in an editorial.

“As they experience constant exposure to the 5 000 years of continuous Eastern civilisation, we believe they will make progress” when it comes to manners, it said in the Chinese-language piece, which was not published in English.

The paper shrugged off the queen’s comments themselves as “not a big deal”, stating: “Chinese diplomats surely also scoff at British bureaucrats in private.”

London and Beijing have both proclaimed a new “golden era” of relations between the former imperial power and the rising Asian giant, now the world’s second-largest economy.

Xi’s trip in October saw a clutch of contracts announced.

At the time, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, breathlessly portrayed the visit as the start of a beautiful friendship.

But in her recorded comments the queen commiserated with a police commander for her “bad luck” in having to oversee security for Xi and his wife.

Members of the Chinese delegation “were very rude to the ambassador”, the monarch said, exclaiming: “Extraordinary!”

A columnist at Chinese website “Today’s Headlines” recalled visible mutual discomfort during the three-day sojourn, describing it as “thought-provoking awkwardness”.

It added that it “primarily arose out of cultural and political differences”.

On Chinese social media, posters decried Britain’s lack of awareness and understanding of Chinese ways, noting “an arrogance which makes them feel they need not bother to learn”. Others were ashamed. “We’re already embarrassed by talk about what our average people get up to abroad,” one said.

“Being embarrassed by our officials abroad is even worse.”

The queen’s comments came as Cameron was recorded calling Nigeria and Afghanistan “possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world”.