China is having a field day with U.S. Capitol chaos
Eva Dou, The Washington Post
Jan. 7, 2021
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Supporters of President Trump stand outside the east side of the Capitol.Washington Post photo by Marissa J. Lang
As democratic governments around the world reacted with horror to President Donald Trump supporters storming of the Capitol, China s official propagandists could barely contain their schadenfreude.
If you don t allow the storming of your own legislature, they asked, how could you support it in Hong Kong?
It was an illustration of how Trump s subversion of American democracy has provided cover for authoritarian governments like China s. Beijing has found the chaos incited by Trump a convenient defense for its authoritarian policies and iron-fisted suppression of dissent.