Proper protocol important for President Trump on trip to Asia

WASHINGTON When in Asia, make sure handshakes aren’t too long — or short. Don’t bobble names or titles. Stifle the critical tweets and don’t question the food.

These key points of etiquette and protocol are part of the region’s core culture known as “face” — keeping yours, helping others save theirs. And they are in many ways the opposite of President Donald Trump’s impulsive, inyour-face style.

Trump departs Friday on a 10-day visit to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. He’ll be toting a hefty economic and national security policy agenda, and — like any president — high stakes for his own standing on the global stage.

But before anyone gets to policy, there is protocol — the application of rules, etiquette and cultural norms for meetings between dignitaries. How are rooms set up? Are titles correct on the place cards? Who is sitting next to whom?

And for the U.S. president, which forms of American informality — pointing at someone with the index finger, for example — are deeply frowned upon?

“One of the things with protocol is obviously to do no harm,” Sean P. Lawler, Trump’s nominee to be to be U.S. chief of protocol, said Wednesday before the Senate panel considering his confirmation. As the director of visits and diplomacy for the National Security Council, he will accompany Trump on the trip.

“One of my goals right off the bat,” Lawler added, is to “set the stage for diplomacy for the president.”

Protocol, an ancient discipline, is aimed at preventing surprises and embarrassment through careful planning and choreography.

“We are the bridge,” said Capricia Marshall, President Barack Obama’s chief of protocol from 2009 to 2013.

Protocol experts say American informality frequently gets lost in translation in the traditional cultures Trump will be visiting.

Among the challenges Trump faces as he heads to Asia are the complexities of the “Asian face,” a concept that’s foreign to many Americans but lies at the foundation of societies across the region.

Generally, it means making sure behaviour, posture, gestures, remarks and more do not spark strong negative emotions in others, or oneself.

So, for example, Trump’s 19 seconds of shaking, patting and yanking the hand of Japan’s leader at the White House in February crossed all kinds of cultural lines. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe responded with an on-camera eye roll as Trump looked away.

Trump is playing golf with Abe during the trip, according to White House officials.