Before a U.S. dignitary makes an overseas visit to a vital country abroad, such a person is briefed by the State Department -- about how to properly present oneself as a representative of the United States of America to a foreign national in terms they can understand, without unintentionally giving offense or sending the wrong message.

But then there's Janet Yellen, whose trip to China sent a very clear message to China, just through her body language, but presumably not the one she meant:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen greets Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing earlier today pic.twitter.com/iYcA7Jmuz6

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 8, 2023

Cripes, look at that bowing to a top leader of one of the world's foremost currency-manipulating nations...bow, bow again, bow again...it's as if she's saying she's so glad she got to see this guy after so much groveling to get that meeting she just couldn't help herself. 

The Chinese, though, would have taken a different message from that groveling ... that she was groveling, or, kowtowing, to use an earlier term. If they were really savvy, which is a possibility, they might have surmised that she was probably terrified she would be fired from her job, as has been swirling around the rumor mill for months, and thus made her bows as a gesture of thanks for showing old Joe Biden back home that she wasn't insignificant.

Whatever it was, it was a bad message of submission and weakness to send, and Yellen should have known better. She is an adult of some seasoning, after all, and should have known to not bow to a foreign dignitary for that reason alone. But even if she didn't know any better, she would have had access to the finest in diplomatic coaching to ensure that she not blunder -- which she actually did twice, not just in the bowing but in getting the Chinese official's name wrong. She should have been able to send clear message to her less-than-benevolent-minded opponent across the Pacific without indicating American submission. But instead, she bowed.

And that's more than a little faux pas -- because bowing is barely ever done in China.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the custom of bowing in China:

The kowtow is the highest sign of reverence in Han Chinese culture, but its use has become extremely rare since the collapse of Imperial China. In many situations, the standing bow has replaced the kowtow. However, in modern Chinese societies, bowing is not as formalized as in Japan, South Korea and North Korea. Bowing is normally reserved for occasions such as marriage ceremonies^[5] and as a gesture of respect for the deceased, although it still sometimes used for more formal greetings.^[6] In China, three bows are customarily executed at funerals including state funerals,^[7] ancestral worship, and at special ceremonies in commemoration of pater patriae Sun Yat-sen.^[8][9]

As in Japan and Korea, public figures may bow formally to apologize. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao bowed and offered his condolences to stranded railway passengers;^[10] Taiwanese Defense Minister Chen Chao-min bowed in apology following a faux pas concerning the shooting of former President Chen Shui-bian in 2004.^[11]

Turns out the big-league of bowing can be found in Japan and Korea, where, as with everything that is done in those countries, those gestures are a nuanced art.  Americans who are unfamiliar with the custom would have to be coached on how to do that right, too. Recall the hysteria in the media about the prospect of President Trump accidentally commiting a faux pas around the issue of greetings in Japan. And Yellen in China, where mistakes might just matter? Not so much.

It's notable that Yellen's counterpart, He Lifeng, sure as heck wasn't going to bow. They don't do that in his country. Hers? Well, he sees what he sees.

For the rest of us, it looks like Yellen actually mixed up Japan with China -- and basically indicated to both that doesn't know much about either place.

But ironically, this faux pas of submissiveness projected came as Yellen yakked a lot in her press briefing about the importance of clear communication with China. 

If you were Chinese, what would you think after that bowing spectacle? She sure as heck was communicating something very clearly, and well, since she brought it up...

All this, so that Yellen could have her meeting and photo op with the Chicoms, a nation that is openly hostile to U.S. economic interests, our Navy and our ally Taiwan, and which is actively working to undercut the U.S. in the world's developing countries through its One Belt, One Road initiative.

What did she discuss after making those multiple bows? According to her own press release, it was bilateral trade disputes, national security and human rights issues, (with clear communication paramount), and getting China to pony up on greening its economy and shelling out for global warming projects as well as giving the third world on its string debt relief (instead of taking their strategic ports and roads as the world's top-seed repo men). 

Sound like a set of demands that the Chinese will heed now that they've got the United States bowing to them? These things are actually China's strategy for world dominion. They're not going to change course because Janet Yellen bowed to them.

They got that for free.

Image: Twitter screen shot