China walking on the backs of Pacific islands

This rather bizarre image has set tongues a-wagging across the world. It shows the new Chinese ambassador to Kiribati walking across the backs of local young men on the Kiribati island of Marakei, led by two women in local dress.

Some Islanders (and the Chinese) are justifying it as a traditional welcome and mark of respect often used in weddings and for VIP guests, stressing that it is merely a local custom and not a demonstration of subjugation. Hmm, maybe, but it's one thing for the groom of a traditional wedding to do it and absolutely another for a dominant foreign political power and major investor.
The optics are so bad that any country other than China would surely have thought twice about it. As an Australian parliamentarian comments,"I'd be very surprised if an Australian representative participated in such a ceremony of this nature".
It is particularly awkward as the small island nation of Kiribati, which spreads over a huge and strategically important area in the mid-Pacific, has just recently made a sudden and controversial decision to swtich Kiribati's recognition from Taiwan to China, after 17 years of support for an independent Taiwan. Who knows what deals have been struck to bring that about, although one can probably guess (the cringe-worthy speech of Kiribati's president at the official ceremony gives a pretty good idea). The USA in particular is worried that Kiribati will allow China to build dual-purpose civilian and military facilities on Christmas Island, one of its far-flung territories.
This is all part and parcel of China's new swagger. They feel that they no longer need to follow commonsense rules of diplomacy: they can use economic and military clout to get what they want.