Name: Trump's incompetent response to the US coronavirus outbreak is helping China look good
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Trump's incompetent response to the US coronavirus outbreak is helping China look good

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Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem nowSign up for our newsletter to receive our top stories based on your reading preferences — delivered daily to your inbox.Something is loading.China's Communist Party has in recent weeks embarked on an expansive propaganda campaign meant to recoup its public image as the coronavirus ravages much of the world.Its efforts have included around the world and into the World Health Organization, from which .But the biggest help in this propaganda push could just be President Donald Trump.Trump has stumbled through the coronavirus outbreak, overseeing what has become and, in a particularly low moment, suggesting that .This chaotic response is making China look good.The US has for years been the loudest voice against China — in terms of , , and — and has, in recent weeks, repeatedly slammed China's attempt to cover up the virus in its early days.There are good grounds for the US to make this argument: China did and from its citizens and the World Health Organization. This delayed many countries' responses and most likely cost thousands of lives.But Trump's actions are making him look untrustworthy and are undermining these accusations.He has flip-flopped on his stance on China — tweeting at various points in , , and that President Xi Jinping was dealing with the outbreak well, while at other points accusing China of .In the early stages of the US outbreak, he also did his best to claim that the virus would not be that bad.—Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Trump has even repeatedly floated that the virus came from a lab in the city of Wuhan — an idea US intelligence sources and scientists have said lacks evidence.He has also accused Beijing of . (Critics say .)China is capitalizing on Trump's chaotic response.It appeared to position itself as the victim of the US's criticism, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, in late April: "We hope the US will stop dragging China into its domestic politics.""For some time, certain US politicians neglect facts and attempt to shirk their responsibility and hide their incompetence by blaming China," he said."But such attempts, instead of eliminating the progress our people made through arduous efforts, will only expose certain US individuals' malicious intentions and the serious problems in the US."The most colorful example of China's anti-US campaign saw the state-run Xinhua news agency produce an animation — — mocking the US coronavirus response, in which a toy Statue of Liberty says: "We are always correct even though we contradict ourselves."There are signs that normal citizens in China are keen to follow the party line on the Trump administration.One instance came after Trump said in late March that the US would have done a "" if it ended up with 100,000 to 200,000 deaths.The hashtag "Trump says reducing death toll to 100,000 people is 'not bad'" quickly became a trending hashtag on the microblogging site Weibo (where hashtags are often much longer than ones on Western platforms).Users also called him a "joker" and a "blowhard," .And when US cases surpassed 1 million last month, people on Weibo called the US "not the world's number one" and its pandemic response "the disaster flick of 2020," according to Politico.Weibo is not a perfect representation of the Chinese population — the platform is heavily censored — but gives some sense of national sentiment.And this kind of reaction is exactly what the Communist Party wants, as it is far more focused on maintaining its grip on power at home than improving its image abroad.(It's largely why its "" censors anything that could weaken its grip on power, from to pictures of Winnie the Pooh, the fictional bear who many say looks like Xi.)Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, there were strong signs that Chinese citizens were losing trust in their government.After the death of Li Wenliang, a Wuhan ophthalmologist who was censured for sounding an early alarm on the virus, people risked Chinese censorship to .In early March, Wuhan residents who was touring their neighborhood, shouting "Fake, fake, everything is fake" after officials tried to promote a food-donation program.Such scenes are unusual, and outside observers wondered whether such calls for greater democracy in China could defy recent history and achieve some kind of change in the face of a pandemic.Weeks later, it is unclear how strong this sentiment still is — China has citizen journalists and democracy campaigners and .In the past, the US has been a strong supporter of such calls, and made life difficult for China — mainly out of concern over its public image.But now the US is the one being embarrassed on the world stage, limiting its ability to influence events outside its borders.Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know.Subscribe to push notificationsAn icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.Keep readingIt indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile.Redeem nowSign up for our newsletter to receive our top stories based on your reading preferences — delivered daily to your inbox.Something is loading.China's Communist Party has in recent weeks embarked on an expansive propaganda campaign meant to recoup its public image as the coronavirus ravages much of the world.Its efforts have included around the world and into the World Health Organization,...

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Trump's incompetent response to the US coronavirus outbreak is helping China look good

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