CHINA-US: CHINESE REACTIONS TO DONALD TRUMP'S VICTORY IN US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

 Many Chinese netizens in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Beihai responded to the U.S. election with happiness. The users of Chinese social media platform Weibo viewed Trump’s isolationist “America First” proclamations from the campaign trail as an opportunity for Beijing to advance its foreign policy interests around the globe. Weibo user “Big Hero” from Shenzhen, wrote that Trump’s proposed retreat from Asia meant that China could exert greater influence over Japan and other nations in the Asia-Pacific. He said “From now on, the Americans will compete with us mostly on trade, and won’t interfere with China’s power.” “Little Handsome” from Chengdu, a city of over 7 million people and an economic gateway, concurred: “Trump’s policies are conducive to Chinese people and to the working interests of the Chinese middle class.”


Urban Chinese netizens also appeared less concerned about the U.S. president-elect. Some said Beijing has much to gain from a man who has indicated he may roll back civil liberties. Weibo users took a dim view of Hillary Clinton’s focus on human rights and plan to continue Obama’s pivot to Asia. “A democratic presidency is more unfavorable to China,” wrote user “Yell at the Sky 2012” from Beihai, in Guangxi province. Official Chinese media outlets and some Weibo commentators read the outcome of the U.S. election as a victory for China’s one-party state, where leaders are groomed and selected carefully, and a loss for a pluralistic democracy whose citizens can elect a man of no experience in government to the highest office in the land.






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