China’s state-run Global Times newspaper predictably observed the occasion of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump formally cementing the nominations to their respective parties on Wednesday by lamenting that both are “unpopular” candidates and proof that American democracy has “failed to express or address issues of public concern.”
The Chinese government’s media arms regularly use American elections, and especially the hard-fought presidential races, to argue that the American political system is obsolete and repressive, and only totalitarian communism can free the American people.
While the Global Times derided the nominations of Biden and Trump as negative developments for humanity, the Chinese Foreign Policy touted the Communist Party-controlled Chinese legislatures as an example of successful “whole-process people’s democracy” for the world to emulate. The two federal lawmaking bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the advisory Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), act on the orders of genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, do not debate policies, and effectively blindly approve the demands of the Politburo in their annual “two sessions.” The “two sessions” concluded last week.
Following a series of state primaries in 2024 in which both candidates were overwhelmingly dominant, the incumbent president and his predecessor secured enough delegates for the Republican and Democrat national conventions to be nominated this week.
“Our Party is UNITED and STRONG, and fully understands that we are running against the Worst, Most Incompetent, Corrupt, and Destructive President in the History of the United States,” Trump declared in a statement in response to the development.
“Donald Trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America,” Biden said in his statement about his own nomination, which he shared with reporters via email. “He is glorifying dictators and pledging to become one himself on day one. … Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country.”
The Global Times, citing pro-regime “observers,” declared Americans “unenthusiastic” about their options and concluded that “the election mechanism and US democracy have become rigid and failed to express or address issues of public concern.” The candidates’ statements, the Chinese propaganda outlet said, “reminded observers of the farcical development of their first matchup in 2020” and lamented the “repeat of the bitter 2020 election.”
“For the majority of the US people, they do not want to see the 81-year-old and the 77-year-old competing for the presidency again. They are tired of the gerontocracy,” a regime-approved “expert,” Lü Xiang, was quoted as saying. “The two-party system in the US has become strange and abnormal, and is stuck in a sluggish state.”
President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump (Kevin Dietsch, Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
The Global Times complained in particular that Trump, who as president pursued policies to contain the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party, “has never been marginalized,” which it claimed has made American politics “more divided and extreme than 2020.”
The 2020 election was marked by nationwide left-wing riots that engulfed entire communities in flames. Property Claim Services, a company that tracks insurance claims, found in late 2020 that the riots were the most expensive events of manmade property damage in American history. The Global Times did not offer evidence to suggest that American politics is “more extreme” than it was in 2020.
Demonstrators raise their fists as a fire burns in the street after clashes with law enforcement near the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct shortly after midnight on June 8, 2020, in Seattle, Washington. Earlier in the evening, a suspect drove into the crowd of protesters and shot one person. Later, police and protesters clashed violently during ongoing Black Lives Matter demonstrations following the death of George Floyd (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images).
The state newspaper did conclude, against citing its “experts,” that American democracy was no longer a reality.
“US democracy remains only in format and should undergo major amendments to keep functioning,” one “expert” suggested.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry abstained from condemning the American political system when asked about the nominations on Wednesday, insisting that China would “not interfere in America’s presidential election” and encouraging both Trump and Biden to pursue “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation” with China.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin extensively praised the Chinese “two sessions” during his briefing on Wednesday, however, as a practice of authentic democracy, praising totalitarian leader Xi for taking “the lead in practicing whole-process people’s democracy by soliciting suggestions extensively and pooling people’s wisdom.”
“Going forward, China will continue developing whole-process people’s democracy that is more broad-based, fully implemented and full-fledged,” Wang claimed. “We will advocate common values of humanity and have exchanges and mutual learning with other countries on democracy and other issues based on mutual respect so as to jointly contribute more to the democracy of humanity.”
In reality, China is a violent communist dictatorship that severely punishes any public indications of disagreement with Xi or his regime. In its 2024 report on civil and political rights, the Freedom House human rights organization ranked China one of the most unfree nations in the world, citing, among other violations, routine purges of Communist Party officials, the abuse of vague laws to silence suspected political dissenters, and the complete lack of public participation in electing leaders.
Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a joint press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Thursday, April 6, 2023 (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File).
“None of China’s national leaders are freely elected, and the legislature plays a rubber-stamp role in policymaking and the development of new laws,” Freedom House explained. “The concentration of power in Xi’s hands, a cult of personality centered on Xi, and his regular calls for greater ideological conformity and party supremacy have further reduced the limited space for policy debate, even within the CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”
