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By Matthew Tostevin
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Chinese commentators mocked the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, pointing out the president's repeated verbal stumbles and the questions over the truthfulness of his rival.
Biden was widely seen as the loser of the debate. With his voice sounding hoarse and sometimes appearing to go off track in his remarks, his performance was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats in America at a time that he had been fighting questions over his age.
"Personal attacks, hazy memory, mocking each other... this debate was very entertaining for many Chinese people," wrote high profile media commentator and former state media editor Hu Xijin on X, where he has more than 560,000 followers despite it being banned for most people in China.
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"Objectively speaking, the low-quality performance of these two old men was a negative advertisement for Western democracy," he said, posting clips of the video with a jokey musical soundtrack.
China is seen by the United States as its main strategic rival and Beijing has made clear that it seeks to displace a U.S. dominated world order in its rise to global pre-eminence.
Under the rule of the Communist Party, there are no such thing as presidential debates or national presidential elections and President Xi Jinping has cemented his position as China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. At 71, Xi is younger than both Trump, 78, and Biden, 81.
Although Trump criticized Biden in the debate for allegedly being in China's pocket, that drew less attention for Chinese watchers than the performance of the candidates.
"Evenly Matched"
"This chaotic rhythm almost dominated the entire debate, and many people lamented: One has Alzheimer's disease and the other is mentally ill, they are really evenly matched," wrote financial news site Cailianshe.
The state-owned Beijing News said both candidates had exposed their shortcomings. "Biden was habitually confused, and Trump continued to spread rumors," the newspaper said.
Online commentators were also drawn by the nature of the debate, with its personal attacks and the sparring that happened when Trump and Biden compared their skills and performances on the golf course.
"What kind of kindergarten quarrel?," wrote one user on the micro-blogging platform Weibo.
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Others echoed the line that the whole debate had shown a bad reflection of the Western democracy that Beijing has long accused Washington of trying to foist on other countries around the world.
"This just points out the fundamental problem of American democracy. Americans don't elect a president, but someone who is more suitable to play the president on TV. In tonight's debate, Trump lied and talked nonsense, but most TV viewers didn't notice it. However, Biden's old age and stuttering greatly reduced his score," wrote Chu Mingyu, who has over 1.9 million Weibo followers.
On X, replies to Hu, the former state media editor, noted that such presidential debates would not happen in China.
"Agree that it's a low point, but, unlike Chinese, Americans take the long view. Generations ebb and flow, things will change," wrote U.S.-based Frederick Zimmerman from a verified account.
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