Among China’s most surprising responses to the trade dispute has been its reluctance to use its vast state media empire to rally the home front. That has changed since US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff barrage.
In recent days, the once-banned phrase “trade war” has roared back into widespread use in Chinese media.
Meanwhile, official news outlets gave high-profile play to commentaries urging unified resistance to foreign pressure, including an editorial from the nationalist Global Times calling the trade dispute a “people’s war” and threat to all of China.
Photo: AP
Such sentiments have found an eager audience, with a state television video vowing a “fight to the end” attracting more than 3 billion views since Monday.
The clip was the most-read piece on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo earlier on Tuesday.
The rhetorical shift underscores the risks that the Chinese Communist Party faces as it veers toward a more nationalistic position as the trade dispute drags on and weighs on economic growth. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), like Trump, has promised to rejuvenate his country and cannot afford to look weak in the face of foreign power.
So far, Chinese state media have sought to tamp down the kind of patriotic passions that fueled a backlash against Japanese interests when a territorial dispute flared in 2012. Even now, state media commentaries focused the blame on the US government, rather than the country as a whole.
For instance, a commentary published in the CCP’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper avoids any mention of Trump’s name and refers only to “certain people in America who brood over the so-called massive trade deficit,” said David Bandurski of the China Media Project, an independent research program affiliated with the University of Hong Kong.
The article “tries to avoid any sense of general animosity toward the US, and stresses that the American people and businesses are losing out as a result of tariffs,” Bandurski said. “Right now the messaging from the leadership through the state media is all about treading the line.”
Although increased use of the term “trade war” in official media suggests a hardening of rhetoric, some media outlets are still prohibited from using the term, a person familiar with the matter said.
The suggested alternative is “an unclear external environment,” the person said, adding that publicity authorities have directed outlets to stress the stability and resilience of the Chinese economy.
Maintaining that balance is difficult in a country where all schoolchildren are taught about the nation’s “century of humiliation” at the hands of colonial powers.
China’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴), has already found himself targeted by unflattering comparisons to the Qing Dynasty official who signed an 1895 treaty with Japan that surrendered the island of Taiwan.
That is why Liu stressed in remarks to state media after failed trade talks on Friday last week in Washington that any deal should be “balanced” to ensure the “dignity” of both nations.
The People’s Daily yesterday ran another commentary saying China would never make decisions that “give up power and humiliate the country,” a phrase used in school textbooks to describe the treaties China signed at the turn of the 20th century.
“The Chinese people’s belief in upholding the rights and dignity of the nation, their determination, is rock solid,” it said.
Trump’s tweets announcing the tariffs landed at a particularly awkward time — the day after China marked the 100th anniversary of a popular revolt against the nation’s leaders.
The May Fourth Movement, which led to the CCP’s founding, stands as a reminder of the risks of failing to stand up to foreign powers.
Tuesday last week was also the 20th anniversary of the US’ bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
While the US side called the incident an error, Chinese protested outside embassy and relations plunged to a modern low.
The “people’s war” mentioned in the Global Times editorial was introduced by party patriarch Mao Zedong (毛澤東) in an oft-cited 1938 speech in which he argued that China would eventually repel the Japanese invaders.
Mao argued that while conflict was affected by political, economic military and geographic elements, the people are the decisive factor.
Earlier on Tuesday, the People’s Daily posted an image on its WeChat account of the Chinese flag with the words “Talk — fine! Fight — we’ll be there! “Bully us — delusion!” superimposed over it.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was