Xiaomi’s credentials get a boost as Beijing picks smartphones as state gift

Smartphone giant Xiaomi briefly took the spotlight during Saturday’s meeting between President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae-myung, as a pair of the company’s handsets were presented as gifts by China’s head of state.

The selection of its flagship consumer product as a state gift reflected Xiaomi’s growing status as a symbol of China’s technological ambitions, according to analysts, more than 15 years since the company was founded.

The pair of Xiaomi handsets were presented to Lee when the two leaders exchanged gifts during their meeting on the sidelines of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which concluded on Saturday, at the coastal city of Gyeongju. Xi’s interpreter pointed out that the displays on the Xiaomi smartphones were made in South Korea.

In a witty exchange that elicited a burst of laughter, Lee asked: “Is the line secure?”, according to a report by the Korea AngJoong Daily. Xi replied through an interpreter: “You can check if there is a back door.”

Xiaomi did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The specific models of the smartphones have not been disclosed.

This marked the first known instance when Xiaomi’s smartphones were presented as state gifts to a foreign head of state.

Last month, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro publicly praised a Huawei Technologies Mate X6 smartphone that was reportedly gifted to him by Xi. Maduro described the handset as “the best phone in the world” and claimed that US spies cannot hack it.

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