‘House of Cards played it too safe': Chinese media and netizens mock Los Angeles protests
BEIJING: Chinese state media have seized on the ongoing protests in Los Angeles to take aim at the United States, framing the unrest as a reflection of mounting political division and governance shortcomings.
Chinese netizens have also chimed in as footage of the at-times violent demonstrations trends online, with some describing the scenes of protesters clashing with armed police officers amid clouds of tear gas as akin to those seen in Hollywood blockbusters.
Protests have rocked Los Angeles, the second largest city in the US, since last Friday (Jun 6) as federal agents face off against hundreds of demonstrators following immigration raids.
US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and also sent in Marines to quell the protests, sparking a national debate on the use of military on American soil and pitting the Republican president against California's Democrat governor, Gavin Newsom.
Protests have also spread beyond Los Angeles to other US cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers.
CHINESE STATE MEDIA WEIGH IN
Chinese state media have weighed in on the unrest.
The likes of CCTV, Xinhua and Beijing Daily have cast the turmoil in stark relief while also portraying it as laying bare a widening rift between the two major US political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans.
'Looking back now, the writers of House of Cards played it too safe,' goes the opening paragraph of a commentary by the state-backed Beijing Youth Daily newspaper on Tuesday, referring to the popular US political thriller TV series about a power-hungry congressman scheming to climb the political ladder.
'America's real-life political drama has all the theatrical elements. Just a few days ago it was still verbal sparring between the president and his allies, and now we're treated to a full-blown fighting spectacle.'
The commentary went on to describe how the protests show a struggle between the Republicans and the Democrats on immigration issues, as well as grievances between Trump and several Democratic governors, such as Newsom.
Newsom and the state of California sued Trump and the Defense Department on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federal troops. Trump in turn has suggested Newsom should be arrested.
The Beijing Youth Daily commentary further alleged the Trump administration had shown little strategic thinking when faced with complex challenges.
'Instead, they have repeatedly relied on short-term fixes for long-term problems, masking deep-rooted issues with superficial measures. Governing a vast country requires delicacy and foresight - yet Trump seems to have taken the opposite approach.'
Xinhua, which has reporters on the ground in Los Angeles covering the protests, published a report on Monday titled 'The fall of the City of Angels', referring to the city's widely known nickname.
'Both parties (Republicans and Democrats) have used the immigration issue as a political weapon to stir public opinion and win votes, yet the problem has never been truly resolved,' the article stated.
'The current unrest is an eruption of long-simmering tensions, underpinned by a partisan political struggle … the American public is filled with weariness and disappointment over the partisan strife,' it added.
Another report by Beijing Daily on Wednesday wrote how Los Angeles was 'trampled' by both 'ice' and 'fire' - a reference to officers from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and recent wildfires.
Chinese state media have previously jumped on developments in the US to criticise Washington.
For instance, in the immediate wake of the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters in January 2021, the state-run Global Times published an editorial titled 'Capitol mob represents an internal collapse of US political system'.
The article described the riots as the result of 'severe division' in the US political system and the country's failure to control it. 'The tear in the US is too deep,' it said.
CHINESE NETIZENS TAKE NOTICE
The protests in Los Angeles have also been trending on Chinese social media.
According to the South China Morning Post, some netizens have mockingly described the unrest as 'a beautiful sight in the land of freedom', referencing language used by former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi for the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, when she called the mass demonstrations a 'beautiful sight to behold'.
Others have compared the heated scenes on the ground to those from Hollywood blockbusters.
On the popular microblogging site Weibo, user Bobo highlighted the movie Battle: Los Angeles, where a US Marine and his team face off against aliens attacking Earth.
'Even though the movie has nothing to do with real life, it is quite surreal,' Bobo said.
Another Weibo user quipped that the US no longer needs to film special effects for its blockbusters.
'They can simply use the real-life footage from Los Angeles.'
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