US-China Delegation Photo Draws Criticism Over 0 Women at Summit Table

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 14

Images from Thursday’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing showed no women seated at the main bilateral table, prompting criticism that the two powers projected exclusion rather than merit-based diplomacy.
22,000-plus likes on a post by Harvard economist Gita Gopinath amplified the backlash; she called the scene “the end of meritocracy” and said access appeared driven by networks, not capabilities.
Stanford’s Halima Kazem said the all-male tableau signaled “masculine, militarized, and exclusionary” authority, arguing both governments were defining serious diplomacy in ways that shut women out.
Obama-era US-China summits included women such as Liu Yandong, Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton, making the latest meeting look like a step backward despite qualified women in both countries’ diplomatic ranks.
A few women accompanied Trump on the two-day Beijing visit, including Jane Fraser and Dina Powell McCormick, but none were at the central negotiating table.

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