Hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee have given China’s state-backed media another chance to criticize the US’s political system, democracy in general, and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The emails, which showed Democratic party officials were hostile to Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign and gave high-level White House access to Clinton donors, are being held up by China’s state-back media as proof that something is very rotten in the US.
“The batch of bombshell e-mails reveals that the Clinton campaign colluded with high-ranking Democratic officials in the nominating process, participated in ‘money laundering’ and manipulated media coverage,” the Global Times wrote on July 27. “This almost proves Clinton is really a ‘crook,’ as Donald Trump calls her.”
It goes on: “This ‘e-mail gate’ exposes the dirty side of US democracy under a glossy cover. The minority at the top of the pyramidal system willfully manipulate resources, playing with the support of the public and fans.”
The Global Times went further in Chinese, saying “Even if Hillary becomes the President, she might be problematic president, like a person who goes to work with an illness.”
In a separate editorial, Da Wei, the director of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations described (link in Chinese) Hillary as predictable but not adaptable, and Trump as the other way around. Hillary will carry on being tough on China, Da said, while Trump is more practical. But he added, “Trump is very conceited and narcissistic, no one may be able to guide him.”
Da warned that regardless of whoever becomes the US president, China will be ready. “If US wants cooperation, China will show good attitude, if US wants a fight, then we will fight and see who wins,” he wrote.
Some of China’s state-media analysis also seems quite astute. Chu Yin, a researcher from a state-back research institute, Center for China and Globalization told Xinhua (link in Chinese):
These two presidential candidates have turned the election into a ‘who-is-even-worse’ contest. Some voters pick Hillary not because they like her, but because they hate and fear Trump more.