Chinese public’s eyes turn to US election as Americans in country face nervous wait

For those in China closely following the US election, most of the coverage of the closing stages has steered clear of the dramatic and sensational elements in favour of a more measured, fact-based approach.

Meanwhile, US diplomatic missions have been reaching out to engage members of the public with a series of election-related events as ordinary Americans living in China express their concerns about what it means for the future regardless of who they want to win.

With almost all the polls predicting a very close race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, much of the reporting in the domestic Chinese media has stuck to purely factual matters such as timings and polling numbers.

But other reports have been more pointed, highlighting the increasingly tense atmosphere and fears of violence or contentious subjects such as immigration.

State news agency Xinhua specifically zeroed in on the latter in a report on Monday, saying that both parties have played the “immigration card” and “scapegoated” illegal immigrants.

Another popular topic for China’s domestic media was the vast sums spent during the campaign, with reports citing Bloomberg’s estimate that the total had reached US$14.7 billion this year.