Secretary of Shred: John Kerry delights Chinese diplomats with guitar


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry showed off his diplomatic guitar skills in Beijing, China, on Thursday.

At the urging of Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, Kerry sat down with an acoustic guitar for some nation-building finger picking, playing several bars of an unidentified tune after a lunch at the Great Hall of the People, part of the 5th annual U.S.-China People-to-People Exchange.

Kerry delighted a small group of diplomats, who called for the 70-year-old to play some more. The secretary of shred obliged, ending his encore with a traditional American rock-n-roll move: a major-chord ending.

The impromptu performance was captured on cellphone video and posted to the State Department's YouTube channel.

Kerry also tweeted a photo of his axe-work.

 

It's not the first time Kerry has shown off his guitar skills. The former Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential nominee often travels with a classical guitar, and was known to play it on the road. (During the 2004 campaign, he even performed with Moby.)

Earlier Thursday, China and the United States discussed a range of strategic issues, including climate change, cyberhacking and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

"We both understand that there's more we can do in order to bring North Korea into compliance with its obligations to denuclearize," Kerry said.

Perhaps Kerry can woo Kim Jong Un with his music.