BEIJING. As Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony on Thursday, the historic verdict ignited widespread interest and a touch of schadenfreude in China. This landmark event is being seen by many as a vindication of China’s political system over American democracy.
China, an emerging authoritarian superpower, has long promoted its political system as superior to that of the United States. Trump’s trial has bolstered this narrative but also highlighted something unimaginable in China: an elected leader being held accountable by independent courts and prosecutors, and convicted by a jury of peers.
For months, Chinese state media has leveraged Trump’s legal troubles to portray the United States as polarized and dysfunctional. On Friday, as China woke up to the news of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, social media platforms were abuzz.
On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, the news quickly became the top trending topic, amassing over 120 million views by the afternoon.
“Trump’s supporters, hurry up and mobilize, storm the Capitol,” read a top comment under a news brief by state news agency Xinhua. Another user commented, “Comrade Nation Builder Trump should not be fighting alone.”
During his presidency, Trump was nicknamed “Chuan Jianguo” or “Trump, the (Chinese) nation builder” in China, a jab suggesting that his policies were inadvertently aiding China’s rise over the U.S. Some nationalist influencers gleefully mocked the conviction. “It seems that in 2024, a civil war in America is not just a dream!” wrote one blogger with four million followers.
Under Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in decades, social media has become increasingly dominated by anti-American, nationalistic voices. “Although he is guilty, he can still run for president. A ‘criminal’ can become president – this is the ridiculous aspect of Western-style democracy,” said another Weibo user.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the state-run nationalist tabloid Global Times, also weighed in. “Naturally, Chinese people are watching the spectacle with amusement,” he said on Weibo. “Here’s what everyone is most concerned about: First, will Trump actually go to jail? Second, can he still run for president?”
Analysts, however, suggest that Trump’s conviction presents a nuanced challenge for Chinese state propagandists. Bill Bishop, a China watcher and author of the Sinocism newsletter, noted, “On one hand, it highlights a rotting and fracturing American democracy. On the other hand, it highlights that a former top leader can be arrested, put on trial, judged by a jury of peers and convicted, for relatively small acts of corruption.”
China’s judicial system remains tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party and has a conviction rate of around 99%. The timing of Trump’s conviction also adds to its sensitivity, coming just days before the 35th anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on the pro-democracy Tiananmen movement in 1989.
So far, Chinese state media has refrained from publishing harsh commentaries that have previously accompanied news of Trump’s legal issues. Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, believes this restraint is strategic. “They don’t want to attack Donald Trump because if he becomes president again, they know the consequences. Instead, they’re likely to use it to showcase the problems of the U.S. system,” Wu said. “They need to be really careful about that.”
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
