Chinese state media have sought to portray the escalating Los Angeles protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies as proof of a broken government and the lack of social cohesion in the United States.
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Such a framing, alongside a mix of gloating and schadenfreude on Chinese social media, comes amid sustained US-China tariff tensions and ongoing high-level trade talks in London.
The state-backed Beijing Youth Daily, in a commentary published on its social media page on Tuesday, said that US politics was likely to enter an increasingly unpredictable and “chaotic era”, with the Trump administration setting a “troubling precedent” that could leave a lasting impact for years to come.
Trump and his team had shown little capacity for strategic thinking or systemic solutions when faced with complex challenges, it alleged.
“Instead, they have repeatedly relied on short-term fixes for long-term problems, masking deep-rooted issues with superficial measures. Governing a vast country requires delicacy and foresight – yet Trump seems to have taken the opposite approach.”
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Trump orders 700 Marines and 2,000 more National Guard troops to quell Los Angeles unrest
Trump orders 700 Marines and 2,000 more National Guard troops to quell Los Angeles unrest
State news agency Xinhua adopted a similar tone, highlighting the “sharp conflict” between Republican-led Washington and Democratic-led California.