Beijing criticises US democracy’s failings
More than 160 million voters cast their ballot in this election. For the Global Times, the United States needs serious and deep reforms. Criticism of Washington comes as Beijing cracks down on Chinese pro-democracy dissidents. Attacks against the US system are actually symptomatic of Chinese concerns that Trump has set a path for Cold War-style competition.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – The chaotic and contested outcome of the US presidential election is e proof that US democracy is in bad shape.
“Something must have gone wrong with US’ national competitiveness and its social governance. The country needs serious and profound domestic reforms,” reads an editorial published on Tuesday by the Global Times, a state-run, nationalist-oriented daily tabloid.
The piece has attracted attention of various observers, and not only in the West. It criticises an election that saw the participation of 160 million voters, a US record, whilst China’s own communist regime has intensified its repression against those Chinese who want to democratise the country.
The latter include jurist Xu Zhangrun, his colleague He Weifang, Cai Xia - a former teacher of the Central School of the Communist Party of China – and publisher Geng Xiaonan, not to mention magnate Ren Zhiqiang, human rights activists Xu Zhiyong and Wang Quanzhang, plus many others.
Criticism from the Global Times come on top of those from Chinese leaders. On 29 October, at the end of its 5th Plenum, the Central Committee of the Party praised the country’s victory over COVID-19 and the revival of its economy, in contrast to what is happening in the United States, both of which are signs of the superiority of China’s political system.
Nonetheless, for some analysts, Beijing's attack on America’s "failed democracy" suggest a deeper concern. in fact, whatever the outcome – Joe Biden’s likely victory or Trump’s re-election – Beijing will face a very troubled relationship with Washington.
“The US presidential election is an internal affair and China takes no stance on it,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said. But Trump’s capacity to harness support and that almost half of the electorate backs his policies and his aggressive style, have surprised some observers.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Zhu Feng, director of the Institute for International Studies at Nanjing University, stressed the growing importance of "identity" politics in the US.
“Americans simply don’t care that much about Trump’s moral and ethical qualities. They choose Trump and his right-wing administration because that’s the America they want,” he said.
In China, many pundits fear that Trump has set up a stage that no US president can leave, namely a cold-war policy of containment against Beijing.
According to Harvard University professor Graham Allison, the rivalry between the two countries is only just at its beginning.
For him, the confrontation of an emerging power like China and a declining one like the US (the so-called "Thucydides trap") has just started, and is only likely to get fiercer down the road regardless of who sits in the White House.
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12/02/2016 15:14
