China revels in Washington’s ‘political turmoil’
US President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for a second term triggers a frenzy on social media
An iron-clad grip on China’s state-run media left the ruling Communist Party flat-footed after American President Joe Biden shelved his re-election campaign.
Official news agency Xinhua buried the story on its home page, while the Global Times and China Daily called the decision a “desperate situation” amid “partisan fights.”
On social media, speculation was rife. “Trump has secured the presidency, there’s no need for others to continue the act. It’s awkward and not even entertaining,” wrote one blogger based in Gansu on Weibo.
The X or Twitter-like online networking site has almost 260 million active daily users and more than 600 million a month.
Locked behind the Great Firewall, Beijing heavily censors social media. “But such discussions provide a glimpse of the rhetoric the authorities allow to survive and thrive,” Business Insider reported.
Quick take:
- Biden’s decision not to run for re-election capped off weeks of speculation.
- It revolved around the “president’s stamina and mental capabilities.”
- Inside the Democratic Party, there were fears about the 81-year-old’s ability “to effectively campaign against former President Donald Trump.”
- Those concerns stretched to his capacity to govern the United States for another four years if he was elected.
Partisan interest overrides that of the people.
Li Yang, China Daily
Delve deeper: Biden has since endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, for the nomination. But she will now need the backing of the entire Democratic Party if she is to run in November’s presidential election.
What they are saying: Lu Xiang, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told state-controlled Global Times that “the decision” was “made in a desperate situation.”
Between the lines: “The Democratic Party … hope that by replacing Biden with Harris [it] can see if there is still a slim chance to win this presidential election.”
Big picture: China Daily, the official English-language newspaper of President Xi Jinping’s regime, took a wrecking ball to the whole idea of democracy in a commentary by Li Yang.
What was said: “US citizens should realize the challenge confronting their country is the dominance of partisan politics. That means partisan interest overrides that of the people.”
China Factor comment: This, of course, is unlike China’s Communist Party. The CCP has been overriding the “people” and locking up dissidents since it took power in 1949.