Is this considered flirting or non-romantic texting?

[159384aA]

My girlfriend is Chinese and I’m not.

She was on her phone one day and I noticed a text from a guy: “宝宝，我把这葬礼的笔记发给你啦，请查阅😘”

 

I had no idea what it meant but I saw the kiss so I asked what it’s about. She said he’s a friend that she used to study coding with and he sent her some notes. I translated the message and asked why he called her baby. She said it’s a cultural thing and not romantic, similar to how some Americans call everyone honey, darling, etc. I asked why the kissing face and she didn’t have much of an answer.

 

I’m not sure how to feel. Can anyone offer insight? Does this seem like a normal non romantic conversation? I was pretty upset and I was surprised by her response. She was annoyed by my distress rather than trying to make me feel better. She scrolled through her previous conversations with him and it was random unrelated stuff but it only went to last month. She said she barely talks to him. I really can’t see her doing anything sinister and I feel bad for asking Reddit but sometimes the cultural differences and language barrier can make our relationship difficult to navigate and her reaction just felt a little odd.

Thank you

[vellocet]

Reddit?

Did you copy& paste this?

Dude, Reddit users are losers. Especially anything related to China. I quit /r/China when they defended alcoholic weirdos  who were drinking in class. Reddit tip: pour your baijiu in an opaque coffee mug so nobody can see what you're drinking. 

[nicklinjm]

To me calling any female friend who is not your girlfriend 宝宝 is just plain weird, would never do this with any of my female Chinese colleagues or friends. IMHO it does seem pretty flirty, if I saw this on my wife's phone some investigations would ensue!

[anonymoose]

I think what you need to be concerned with is what your gf sends to this guy, not what he sends to her.

[abcdefg]

If the message starts with the guy calling her "baby" and ends with a kiss, how can you possibly have any doubts as to whether or not to consider it flirtatious?