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US presidential debate a ‘live quarrel’, Chinese internet users say after Donald Trump and Joe Biden go head to head
- ‘I would feel desperate if I was an American,’ Weibo user says
- ‘We didn’t see many back-and-forth exchanges on China … despite both candidates choosing to focus on China as their top foreign policy issue,’ academic says
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It was probably a relief for Beijing when neither US President Donald Trump nor former vice-president Joe Biden made China-bashing the central focus of their first presidential debate on Tuesday night.
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Instead, the chaotic head-to-head, which ended up becoming a shouting match heavily laden with personal attacks, has become a target of mockery from Chinese internet users, as nationalism in both countries rises in the face of the spiralling US-China rivalry.
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Interruptions and insults dominate first Trump-Biden US presidential debate
Interruptions and insults dominate first Trump-Biden US presidential debate
With no clear winner emerging from the 90-minute event, some Chinese pundits said it was a loss for the democratic values America stood for and, by extension, a win for its rivals, like China.
Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said it was disappointing to see the two candidates trading insults and accusations, with Trump showing little respect for the rules or etiquette of debate.
“We didn’t actually see many back-and-forth exchanges on China as expected, despite both candidates choosing to focus on China as their top foreign policy issue in their campaigns,” Gu said.
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While both candidates brought up China’s poor handling of the coronavirus in the first weeks of the global pandemic, the credibility of its Covid-19 statistics and trade rifts in the fiery debate, they failed to engage in substantial and factual arguments, Gu said.
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