“Quietly quietly” – barely a peep on China’s vice president’s visit to Portugal

A week ago, news media was full of the pending visit to Lisbon of China’s vice president Han Zheng. Now that he has arrived, it has all gone quiet. Han Zheng leaves tomorrow. He has had a working lunch with President Marcelo; a meeting with prime minister António Costa, but no questions or interviews have been sanctioned. A note on the president’s official page says simply that “matters from the bilateral agenda and commercial and investment exchanges between the People’s Republic of China and Portugal were discussed, as well as international current affairs”. It is a far cry from the pomp and circumstance of the visit to this country by Han Zheng’s ‘superior’, Xi Jin Ping, in 2018. Later in the day there was however a sign of what might be at play.