Chinese State Media: RNC Selling ‘Fear and Xenophobia’

CHARLOTTE, NC - AUGUST 25: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) In this screenshot from the RNC’s livest
Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 RNC via Getty Images

China’s state-run Global Times propaganda newspaper derided the Republican National Convention (RNC) as a hotbed of “fear and xenophobia” on Tuesday, shortly before the RNC aired a live naturalization ceremony to welcome five new citizens into the American fabric.

The Global Times claimed its Communist Party-approved “experts” did not believe that the RNC’s focus on the damage that Beijing has done to the global economy, both with its increasingly large stranglehold on manufacturing and its inability to contain the Chinese coronavirus, would be an effective message for swing voters. One “expert” claimed that only “die-hard” fans of President Donald Trump could tolerate even five minutes of the RNC broadcast.

The article also contrasted the support Democrat Party presidential candidate Joe Biden received from Jeff Flake, a former Republican senator and prominent supporter of the interests of the Castro regime in Cuba, with an alleged dearth of Democrats supporting Trump. The Global Times piece was published after the first night of the convention, where Georgia state Sen. Vernon Jones, a Democrat, praised Trump for his support of historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs).

“The speakers in the Republican convention tried to sell fear and hyped xenophobia to cover the Trump administration’s failed handling of the COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] pandemic,” the Global Times claimed. “Experts said the event can only influence uneducated and conservative extremists, but these voters are not enough to get Trump reelected.”

“Compared to the Democrats’ national convention, the Republicans on Monday hyped fear toward the Democrats, Joe Biden, and foreign countries, including China, Muslim countries, and U.S. neighbors Mexico and Canada,” the Chinese outlet claimed, quoting an alleged Chinese “expert” adding, “If you are not a die-hard fan to Trump but a neutral researcher on US politics, you can’t listen to those speakers for more than five minutes.”

The Global Times did not cite any examples of the alleged “xenophobia,” particularly in support of its bizarre claim that Republicans were attempting to stoke fear in Americans towards Canada. Multiple speakers did note that China’s dominance of global manufacturing was a threat to the world, and the broadcast featured a video in part blaming the failed, favorable-to-China leadership of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) for the extent of the destruction caused by the Chinese coronavirus, but did not target ethnic Han Chinese people.

While the RNC’s Monday night broadcast featured speakers of a variety of ethnic backgrounds and at least one refugee, Cuban-American businessman Máximo Álvarez, Tuesday’s schedule following the publication of the Global Times attack focused directly on the issue of integrating new Americans into the national fabric. President Donald Trump personally presided over a live naturalization ceremony for five new citizens from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America and the keynote speaker was an immigrant from a formerly communist country: First Lady Melania Trump.

“I arrived in the United States when I was 26 years old. Living and working in the land of opportunity was a dream come true but I wanted more. I wanted to be a citizen. After ten years of paperwork and patience, I studied for the test in 2006 and became an American citizen,” Trump detailed. “It is still one of the proudest moments in my life because, with hard work and determination, I was able to achieve my own American dream. As an immigrant and a very independent woman, I understand what a privilege it is to live here and enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that we have.”

Another “expert” — identified as “Diao Daming, a US politics expert and an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing,” expressed particular disgust at Kimberly Guilfoyle, the national chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committee, describing her speech Monday as “extremely radical and maniacal.”

“The same socialist policies which destroyed places like Cuba and Venezuela must not take root in our cities and our schools,” Guilfoyle warned in her speech. “Don’t let them kill future generations, because they told you and brainwash you and fed you lies that you weren’t good enough.”

A third “expert” in the article predicted that the RNC would not succeed in attracting new voters, observing without explanation, “Trump and his team are playing the game according to a desperately peculiar ‘garbage-time playbook.'”

The Chinese government has formally remained silent on the convention, though confronting China’s colonialism in developing countries and its ongoing campaign of espionage and intellectual property theft is a key theme of the event. The Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the RNC, though it has resumed its regular attacks on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who spoke at the convention on Tuesday. The Global Times at press time is the only English-language Chinese state outlet openly condemning the RNC. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, published an attack on Trump’s publication of his agenda for a second term in office, which occurred on the eve of the convention. The People’s Daily once again condemned the Trump administration for its focus on Communist Party crimes.

“By playing the China blame card, Trump is not only shifting domestic attention and attracting support, but also catering to the voices of domestic anti-China hawks and interest groups. In other words, the Republican Party has reached a high degree of consensus on Trump’s policy toward China,” the People’s Daily claimed on Wednesday. “As the virus rages on in the US, Trump will not easily give up the tactic of blaming China because this seems to be working. If Trump is re-elected, it can be expected that he will continue to use the pandemic and other factors as excuses to suppress China.”

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