TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China's Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) lost his footing and nearly took a spill down the airstair as he landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Sept. 14), prompting ridicule from a Taiwanese writer and netizens.
At around 8:30 GMT, Xi arrived in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan on part of a three-day trip to Central Asia that includes attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and meeting with Vladimir Putin. This was Xi's first overseas visit since the early stages of the pandemic.
In the video, Xi walked down six steps and paused briefly to look out at the crowd gathered to greet him. He then continued descending, first with his left foot onto the seventh step.
Xi reaches for rail as he loses footing. (Twitter, rfa screenshot)
However, when he tried to place his right foot on the eighth step, his heel slipped on the red carpeting, and he started to lunge forward. Xi quickly reached out with his right hand, and he was able to grab onto the railing to prevent from falling.
Xi held onto the handrail for a few more steps before letting go to wave to the crowd with his right hand, but continued to look straight down. He maintained his focus on the stairs until he had safely made it to the bottom of the staircase.
On his Facebook page on Thursday morning, writer Wang Hao (汪浩) uploaded a post titled "Is Xi Jinping unstable?" Wang then asked, "Is it a bad omen to miss the first step right away when going out?"
Xi waves as he looks down. (AP photo)
He recalled that when Xi visited France a few years ago, he also lost his footing, which drew international attention. This time around, Wang pointed out that Chinese netizens made comments such as "It almost changed the course of Chinese history." In 2019, Xi nearly fell off the stage at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Twitter users were quick to poke fun at Xi's gaffe:
"He hasn't been out for a long time, he's rusty."
"It's a pity that he didn't fall."
"Getting carried away? Or is there something else on your mind?"
"Insulting China!"
"The cerebral thrombosis looks very serious."
"He hasn't been out for more than three years and his legs and feet have atrophied, and can't stand the red carpet treatment."
Xi Jinping stumbles and nearly falls as he gets off the plane
Xi's plane arrived in Noordin，the capital of Kazakh at 4pm BST on 14/09/2022 and was greeted with a smile by Kazakh President Mikhail Tokayev at the airport. pic.twitter.com/U0AySx48o0
— NFSC澳喜要聞（新號） (@weizhenshe) September 14, 2022
