French President Emmanuel Macron's office has played down an incident in which his wife, Brigitte, appeared to push him in the face as the couple arrived in Vietnam at the start of a Southeast Asia tour.
In a video, Ms Macron appeared to shove her husband before they descended from the presidential plane late yesterday, causing him to step back before he recovered and waved to the cameras at the top of the stairs of the aircraft.
She remained momentarily hidden behind the plane's fuselage, blocking any view of her body language.
The couple, who have been married since 2007, then descended the steps together, with Ms Macron refusing her husband's arm.
"I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife," Mr Macron told reporters in Hanoi. "It's nothing."
He said that this was not the first time in recent weeks that the content of videos of him had been twisted by people he described as "crackpots".
Some social media users suggested - without providing evidence - that the object was a bag of cocaine.
Mr Macron said it was a tissue and his office accused France's enemies of spreading fake news.
Earlier, an Elysee official had played down the moment, denying it showed an argument between the couple: "It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh."
"It was a moment of closeness," the official said.
Mr Macron's visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in almost a decade, comes as he aims to boost France's influence in its former colony.
Vietnam, which has a heavily export-driven economy, has made concessions to the US in trade talks in a bid to avoid 46% tariffs.
But the European Union has concerns that Vietnam's efforts to buy more US goods could come at Europe's expense.
US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, but softened his stance two days later, restoring a 9 July deadline for talks between the US and the EU.
