Is Wan Azizah’s non-handshake with Xi Jinping a communications fiasco, totally avoidable?
PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gala dinner at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention Centre in China on Aug 31. He was accompanied by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
They were greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at the dinner hosted by Xi as current SCO chairman ahead of the 2025 Summit on Monday (Sept 1).
As reported by the
Malay Mail, PMX arrived in China on Sunday evening (Aug 31) for a
four-day working visit to China which will also include a visit to Beijing.
What was NOT reported by local media was that there was a very awkward moment when Wan Azizah declined the China paramount leader’s extended hand, choosing instead of bow with hand on heart.
Xi looked bemused as she shook Peng’s hands while PMX himself had no qualms shaking Peng’s hands
awkward three-second scene was picked up by Russia News (@mog_russEN) on X which simply proclaimed the incident as “

️UNUSUAL” with a stinging one-liner, “The wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim refused to shake hands with President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit in Tianjin 2025”.