Xi Jinping's inspection trip aims to send a message to the US

Similarities between a photo of Xi Jinping inspecting a field trip in northeastern China this month and a propaganda poster depicting Mao Zedong with farmers in the 1950s. Photo: Xinhua/UIG.

While Trump attacked China at the United Nations in New York this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a three-day inspection tour of the country's northeast.

A photo from a farm visit in Heilongjiang province shows Xi walking forward as farmers stand around him smiling, with a blue sky in the background. The image is reminiscent of a 1950s propaganda poster of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong and farmers.

Mao Zedong was a master of propaganda in rural areas. He used images and songs to highlight his concerns for workers, according toNYTimes.

Pang Laikwan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Xi Jinping learned his populist appeal from Mao Zedong. "Mao had a genuine interest in communicating with ordinary people. That was part of his charisma," she said.

David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, a research program affiliated with the University of Hong Kong, pointed out that Xi added modern touches to the rural image, with a series of combine harvesters in the background of the photo meant to showcase China's technological advances.

During his visit, Xi chatted with a worker at an equipment factory in Qiqihar. “Are these raw materials produced domestically?” he asked. “Yes, they are all domestic,” the worker replied.

Mr Xi used the inspection tour to reiterate calls for China to move faster in building its own technologies to become less dependent on the US.

As trade tensions between the two countries have grown and threatened supply chains, Mr. Xi has frequently urged China to develop its own microchips, software and other technologies — part of its strategy to become the leading 21st-century superpower.

The Chinese president stressed "self-reliance". He picked up a rice bowl and said: "Chinese rice, Chinese bowl".

“The renaissance of the Chinese nation depends on our economic competitiveness,” Xi said, using a phrase often used to describe China’s rise. “Only then can China remain invincible.”

Writer Glenda Korporaal commented onAustralianthat Mr Xi's inspection tour was designed to show "a calm and caring leader at a time when the country is under a series of attacks from the US".

The US escalated the trade war this week by imposing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate by imposing tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods.

The two countries have previously imposed $50 billion in tariffs on each other. The US accuses China of stealing intellectual property, restricting market access for US companies, and unfairly subsidizing state-owned enterprises. The US wants to pressure Beijing to change.

However, China still refuses to give in, even though it is running out of options to retaliate, because the amount of goods it imports from the US is much smaller than the amount of goods it exports to it.

At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Trump also accused China of interfering in the US midterm elections in November with the intention of undermining his Republican Party.

Trump also said his friendship with Xi Jinping could end. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who represented China at the UN meeting, denied allegations of election interference.

"As China enters Golden Week (a one-week holiday for National Day) next week, it may have hoped Washington would tone down its political attacks. But as relations between the two sides deteriorate, the two are now locked in a protracted battle," Korporaal wrote.