Rudd Says People Too Excited by China Vice President Absence

[link to www.businessweek.com]

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s former prime minister, dismissed speculation about Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s absence from public events, saying it was normal for such a figure not to attend the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.

“I think people are getting themselves excessively excited by this,” Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television from the Chinese city. “It’s completely normal that Xi Jinping would not be at an occasion like this and I think people frankly need to take a long, strong, hot cup of tea and just calm down a bit.”