China’s citizens have profoundly changed their view of the United States and their president, Trump, journalist Zhang Lijia writes at Democracy Asia. He is called the “nation builder”, helping to improve the global standing of the country worldwide. “Many Chinese believe his erratic behaviour and foreign policy blunders weakened the United States and gave China greater diplomatic room to manoeuvre,” she writes.
Zhang Lijia:
At first, Trump was seen less as a politician than as a reality television character who had somehow wandered into the White House. Chinese netizens mocked his hair, marvelled at his rhetorical excesses and, for a time, even admired his supposed business success. Over the years, however, amusement has faded, and hostility has grown.
This shift reflects not only changing Chinese perceptions of America, but also a deeper transformation in how China sees itself and its place in the world. Most revealing was the nickname Chinese netizens gave Trump: ‘Chuan Jianguo’ (川建国), which roughly translates as ‘Trump the nation builder’.
Jianguo is an immensely popular Chinese name, borne by nearly a million people. The joke was that Trump was actually helping to make China stronger. By launching trade wars and trying to cut China off from advanced technologies, he unintentionally accelerated Beijing’s push for technological self-reliance and fuelled nationalist sentiment. More importantly, many Chinese believe his erratic behaviour and foreign policy blunders weakened the United States and gave China greater diplomatic room to manoeuvre.
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