China Mocks “Beautiful Sight” Of Capitol In Chaos, Blasts US ‘Double Standard’ On Hong Kong

Entirely to be expected, Beijing is gloating over the dramatic images of Wednesday’s ‘Stop the Steal’ protest chaos which briefly saw Trump supporters occupy the Capitol Building and the Senate chamber itself. 

On Thursday morning state-run Global Times compared the security breakdown which significantly delayed the Congressional certification of Biden as the next president to recent anti-government unrest in Hong Kong, for which Chinese officials have lately come under Trump administration sanctions for clamping down on.

Reminding American leaders they once called the often violent Hong Kong independence protests “a beautiful site to behold” – as Nancy Pelosi once did, GT used her words for a bit of trolling with a photo of a protester occupying her office and sitting in the speaker’s chair during yesterday’s mayhem. 

What word did they use about #HK? What words are they using now? #US media condemn the incident in US, calling it ‘violence,’ ‘thugs,’ ‘extremists,’ and ‘disgrace.’ What words did they use to describe riots in #HK? ‘Beautiful sight,’ ‘fighters for democracy’: FM https://t.co/icrsfoqTZJ pic.twitter.com/ib5tvxIwFr

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 7, 2021

“It remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill,” the publication later added.

Further Thursday commentary featured by GT said, “Even though the US has boasted itself as a beacon of democracy, it has never been a paradigm of global democracy. US democratic system has been vandalized, demonstrating how fragile the system is.“

And separately China’s Communist Youth League described the DC unrest as a “beautiful sight” on tthe popular Weibo platform.

#China Foreign Ministry repeats its long held view US is hypocritical about protesters at home versus in #HongKong (tho motivations of protesters different). @PDChina headline “World Witnesses Failure of US Double Standards”. Other state media use DC chaos to criticize US system. https://t.co/zQRXkhRXjP pic.twitter.com/6y2GlwFn98

— Eunice Yoon (@onlyyoontv) January 7, 2021

Across the web Chinese state sources along with popular pro-Beijing commentators took the US to task for its double standard and inability to handle its own ‘democratic uprising’ and protests.

Global Times even hastily put together and published a montage of footage comparing anti-mainland HK protests with Wednesday’s largely out of control spectacle on Capitol Hill:

Similar scenes in Hong Kong and Washington DC, a blatant display of double standards:
-“Beautiful sight” vs “Violent riots”;
-“Heroes” vs “Rioters”;
-“Defense of democracy” vs “Assault on democracy” https://t.co/UcqiX4Q4iU pic.twitter.com/RUoAXcICgs

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 7, 2021

“China’s internet erupted in mirth at America’s troubled democracy…” AFP observed, and further described the following:

The hashtag “Trump supporters storm US Capitol” pinballed across Weibo on Thursday, racking up 230 million views, as users compared the global support for Hong Kong’s protesters with the outpouring of condemnation for the pro-Trump mob.

“At present, all European countries’ leaders have shown double standards and condemned it (Washington rioting),” read one Weibo comment which gained over 5,000 likes.

“I don’t know what kind of double-standard reports will be carried by Hong Kong or Taiwan media this time.”

“What happened in the Hong Kong Legislative Council last year is being repeated in the US Capitol,” wrote another user in a comment with over 4,500 likes.

Prominent commentators in the Chinese social media sphere also underscored the fact that there were at least four fatalities as protesters clashed with police. 

When I pointed out #HongKong police didn’t kill any #HongKongProtester in 9 month of protest cum riot even when rioters stormed HK legislature, people say it’s a low bar.

Yet US police still crossed that low bar in matter of hrs https://t.co/XLjqhC4nBO

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) January 7, 2021

They compared this to what they held up as the relative restraint of Hong Kong police.

Indeed very similar scenes did play out last year when in Hong Kong protesters had stormed the legislature – with the images going around the world and hailed at the West at the time as a blossoming of a democratic movement.

And then there’s this that GT is only too happy to feature…

Chinese netizens are asking to buy Capitol Podium on China’s eBay-like secondhand online marketplace Xianyu, saying they “won’t bargain as it has historic meaning,” after an online pic showed a man taking it away amid siege of US Capitol. pic.twitter.com/5FDAsfRjPn

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 7, 2021

Ironically just this week before all eyes centered on the dramatic events at the capitol, China renewed a fierce crackdown on Hong Kong activists, even going so far as to arrest an American lawyer. We expect Beijing now has “cover” and will use the distraction of uncertain US events to continue its purge.