A top Beijing official’s remarks during U.S.-China talks in Alaska have become hot merchandise on the Chinese online shopping platform Taobao.

“The U.S. side is not qualified to speak to China from a position of strength, the Chinese people do not accept this,” Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, said at the meeting on Thursday.

The quote quickly gained popularity among Chinese people, who believed Beijing had stood up to Washington, and joked that the consensus of the meeting was that both sides announced the cancellation of luncheon and dinner.

T-shirts with the quote “The Chinese people do not accept this” were sold on Taobao for as cheap as 30 yuan (US$4.60). Clothing featuring other quotes were also put on sale, but the responses were not as positive.

Other quotes by Yang were also shared by Chinese internet users, including “Our values are the same as the common values of humanity. Those are: peace, development, fairness, justice, freedom, and democracy.”

Many used it to compare with that of U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who said the Biden administration is “committed to leading with diplomacy to advance the interests of the United States and to strengthen the rules-based international order.”

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