January 26, 2017: On January 20, President-elect Donald Trump took office as the forty fifth President of America. During Trump’s inauguration, China’s state controlled media warned people about the perils of democracy. It warned that the new administration would bring about “dramatic changes”.
The People’s Daily, the flagship paper of China’s Communist Party, devoted an entire page to critiquing Western democracies, quoting former Chairman Mao Zedong’s 1949 poem asking people to “range far your eyes over long vistas” and saying the ultimate defeat of capitalism would enable Communism to emerge victorious.
“Western style democracy used to be a recognised power in history to drive social development. But now it has reached its limits,” said another article on the same page. “Democracy is already kidnapped by the capitals and has become the weapon for capitalists to chase profits.”
Trump’s inauguration speech did not directly reference the country, but he spoke about foreign industries being “enriched” at the expense of American jobs. Trump also added that the new administration would put America first as far as its foreign policy was concerned.
Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump constantly targeted China branding the Beijing government “currency manipulators” and threatened to levy huge taxes on China’s imports.
Trump is most likely to implement protectionist policies and relook trade agreements that are not beneficial to America. However, China’s Ministry of Commerce holds that a trade spat between US and China could hurt both countries.