Bad blood with China? Antony Blinken buys Taylor Swift album in Beijing
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken snapped up a Taylor Swift album along with one by classic Chinese rocker Dou Wei during an unexpected detour to a Beijing record store on Friday after talks in China meant to ease superpower tensions.
En route to the airport after a visit that included a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Blinken popped into the Li-Pi record store in the Chinese capital’s arts district where the owner handed him an album by Dou Wei, which he bought along with Swift’s 2022 record Midnights.
One of the aims of Blinken’s trip has been to emphasise the importance of what the State Department calls “people-to-people ties” as part of efforts to improve relations.
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In the Beijing record store, he described mega pop star Swift, whose hits include “Bad Blood” from her fifth album in 2014, as a successful American export.