Chinese first lady: A diplomatic star is born

BEIJING (AP) – Glamorous new first lady Peng Liyuan has emerged as Chinese diplomacy’s latest star, cutting a very different profile from her staid predecessors on her debut official visit abroad to Russia.

A well-known performer on state television, Peng featured prominently in Sunday’s state media coverage of husband and President Xi Jinping’s activities in Moscow, Xi’s first state visit since assuming the presidency earlier this month.

Peng watched song and dance routines at a performing arts school on Saturday, but did not join in as some media reports had suggested she might. Xi’s trip continues this week with stops in Tanzania, South Africa and Congo, during which Peng is expected to hold other public events.

Chinese newspapers on Saturday ran images of Xi and Peng descending arm-in-arm from their aircraft after arriving in Moscow on Friday, and state broadcaster CCTV ran a report on its main Sunday news broadcast about her visit to the school.

The popular Beijing News tabloid ran a full page of items on Peng’s appearances on Sunday, alongside a photo of her arriving at a speech Xi gave Saturday dressed in an elegant Chinese-style silk tunic and skirt.

“In her role as first lady on this visit abroad, Peng Liyuan is exhibiting China’s soft power,’’ the paper quoted Wang Fan, head the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, as saying.

“As a singer and artist and a long-term advocate for poverty relief and other causes, Peng has an excellent public image,’’ Wang said.

Much of the coverage focused on her personal style, with a report on the mass-market sina.com website noting with satisfaction that the black leather clutch she paired with the outfit was made to order by a Chinese firm in the southwestern city of Chengdu, a flattering contrast with prominent Chinese female politicians scorned publicly for appearing decked head to toe in foreign designer brands.

“In practical terms, this is an important show of support for China’s domestic industries, but in the larger sense, it should raise national self-respect and confidence,’’ read a posting on China’s popular Weibo microblogging service left by Lin Zhibo, Gansu provincial bureau chief of the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily.