Hong Kong
CNN
—

As election results are announced and America holds its breath, Chinese state media are seizing the opportunity to highlight political polarization in the United States and highlight the threat of post-election turmoil in its democratic superpower rival.

Beijing has long been angered by Washington’s criticism of one-party authoritarian rule. Under Xi Jinping, the leader who paved the way for life reign, his spokesmen have increasingly ridiculed the American political system and liberal democracy.

in a series election day Along with news reports and commentary, state media sought to portray the election as a reflection of deep social divisions and political dysfunction in the United States. Chinese No matter who wins, tense bilateral relations are unlikely to improve.

“US Election Day voting begins amid fears of violence, unrest,” declared a headline in the nationalist tabloid Global Times.

On state broadcaster CCTV, a reporter from Washington D.C. reportedly focused on shuttered businesses, increased police patrols and metal fences erected around the White House and Capitol Hill to “prepare for a worst-case scenario of chaos” and belittle millions. People’s peaceful exercise of their democratic rights.

“US elections, once considered one of the highlights of the so-called ‘beacon of democracy’, may now become the starting weapon of ‘social unrest’,” the state-run Beijing Daily claimed in a comment on social media.

“The election is like a theater full of debates. “The root of this lies in the extreme polarization and division between the two parties, which has already left the electorate sharply divided.”

The US elections were among the most talked about topics on Chinese social media on Tuesday and Wednesday. A popular joke on the microblogging site Weibo is: “The country is so divided that they can also enter US-A and US-B.”

But for many Chinese watching the voting process, the main focus was on spectacle rather than content; No matter who won, the tensions in the election would continue. US-China relationship will remain.

“For us ordinary Chinese, no matter who is president of the United States, whether it is candidate A or candidate B, they are all the same,” Beijing resident Li Shuo told CNN ahead of the opening of the polls.

Part of the reason may be the consensus in China (from policymakers to ordinary citizens) that China is in the hands of a U.S. administration that wants to constrain China. China’s rise on the global stageRegardless of whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former president Donald Trump wins.

Republicans seen in Trump’s last term impose tariffs on hundreds of billions purchase worth of Chinese goods, launch and use a campaign against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei racist language To describe the virus that causes Covid-19, which was first identified in China.

The last four years under President Joe Biden’s administration have seen a shift in tone and efforts to stabilize communications. However, the US’s concern about China’s threat to its national security has deepened further with Biden’s influence. China targets tech industries with investment and export controlsand tariffs.

Biden has too. It looked like he was running away. The long-standing US policy of voicing support for Taiwan is a “red line” issue in relations for Beijing, which claims the self-governing island democracy as its own.

“It doesn’t matter who (the winner) is,” one social media user wrote in a popular comment on Weibo. “It will not be easy for them to control China.”