Trump’s grandchild a hit

WHILE media coverage of Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping yesterday focused on trade and North Korea, it was the wide-eyed crooning of the US leader’s granddaughter that stole Chinese netizens’ hearts.

In a video that Trump showed Xi during their stroll through the historic Forbidden City on Wednesday, his granddaughter, Arabella Kushner, greets “Grandpa Xi and Grandma Peng [Liyuan]” with several Mandarin ballads and a recitation of ancient Chinese poetry.

China’s Xinhua state news agency, which circulated the clip widely on social media, reported that Xi said the six-year-old girl’s Mandarin skills deserved an A+.

The Chinese public agreed, according to Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

“As a little ambassador of Chinese-American friendship, Arabella has already received the love of a vast number of Chinese people,” Hua said during a regular news briefing yesterday.

Ivanka Trump, Arabella’s mother and a White House adviser, has said in interviews that her children have a Chinese nanny who teaches them Mandarin. – AFP