http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/asia/china-obama-group-of-20-summit-airport-arrival.html 2016-09-05 09:56:36 Obama Plays Down Confrontation With China Over His Plane’s Stairs China’s handling of the president’s arrival has created a narrative that the Chinese snubbed him. The reality, American officials say, is both simpler and more complicated. === HANGZHOU, China — When China The United States military had flown in a set of rolling air stairs, as it does on all of Mr. Obama’s foreign trips, and the White House had received Chinese approval to use the equipment. But before Mr. Obama’s arrival, a senior administration official said, the Chinese suddenly reversed themselves. The Americans were willing to use a Chinese stairway, this official said, but the Chinese insisted that the stairs be taken to the plane by a local driver, who the Americans said could not communicate with the White House team about even the simplest tasks. So the White House demanded that he be replaced with an English-speaking driver, a request the Chinese refused. As Air Force One was landing, the Chinese relented and told the Americans they could use their own stairs. But by then, officials said, there was no time to make a switch. So the White House decided to forgo the main doorway in favor of a smaller exit in the belly of the aircraft equipped with its own foldout stairs. Mr. Obama generally uses that door only when Air Force One arrives in places, like Afghanistan, with high security concerns. The decision deprived the president of the grand display of descending the stairs from the main doorway to a red carpet. (The carpet was there, but easy to miss, as was Mr. Obama, who popped out as if he were getting off a commuter flight at a municipal airport.) The president walked into a chaotic scene, with Chinese security officials roping off members of the White House press corps to prevent them from recording his arrival. Even the national security adviser, Clashes between China and the United States over the security and staging of Mr. Obama’s visits have been a feature of every trip he has made here since November 2009. While few people believe that President “It’s part of a nationalist culture that he is imparting throughout China at every level: ‘The U.S. does not tell us what to do,’” said Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China. Mr. Guajardo said he had been on the receiving end of extreme demands from the Chinese when he worked with them during a Group of 20 conference in Los Cabos, Mexico, in 2012. “The driver-staircase issue is a way to take a stance and make the Chinese people proud that they’re not pushovers,” he said. Administration officials disputed the suggestion that the staircase incident was part of a broader attempt to humiliate Mr. Obama. Instead, they said, it reflected how on edge the Chinese have been in hosting the Group of 20, a major summit meeting involving dozens of world leaders. The authorities largely emptied this city of 10 million before the meeting, paying the residents to take vacations. Hangzhou is a provincial capital, officials noted, so it does not have the experience of dealing with visiting V.I.P.s that Beijing or even Shanghai has. The Chinese authorities have also placed extraordinary limitations on news media access to Mr. Obama while he is here. The White House press corps, which normally has access to the president’s public events wherever he travels, has been sequestered in buses 200 yards from the site of the Group of 20, without access to food or toilets. Mr. Obama played down the incident, saying it was part of the normal give-and-take over security and media access that the United States has with many foreign countries. He noted that foreign delegations often feel bruised by their treatment when they visit the United States. And he acknowledged that the White House places a lot of demands on countries he visits because of the size of his entourage and his security demands. “Part of it is we also have a much bigger footprint than a lot of other countries,” Mr. Obama said. “We’ve got a lot of planes and a lot of helicopters and a lot of cars and a lot of guys, and if you’re a host country, sometimes it may feel a little bit much.” Still, with China, the president acknowledged, “the seams are showing a little more than usual in terms of some of the negotiations and jostling that takes place behind the scenes.”