OpinionUS-China relations: Capitol chaos a chance for Beijing to show leadership and give peace a chance

Name: World shocked by assault on the US Capitol by radical pro-Trump supporters in Washington
Uploaded: 2021-01-11T19:30:04.000Z
Duration: 3 min 15 s
Description: World shocked by assault on the US Capitol by radical pro-Trump supporters in Washington

China should make it known a fresh start with the Biden administration is its top foreign policy priority, tone down its rhetoric and take the lead on UN Security Council reform in the spirit of global citizenship

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Tom Plate

Published: 3:30am, 12 Jan 2021Updated: 4:45am, 12 Jan 2021

It’s embarrassing. Like some televangelist preacher caught with his trousers down at an out-of-town house of pleasure, America has been caught with its democracy down.

Point one: a scary but also confused and confusing coup attempt. Point two: a Republican president who should never have been president. Point three: a first lady whose main contribution was to the bottom lines of the money-mongers of haute couture. Point four, and most embarrassing of all: many in the Republican Party seem to be mostly enjoying the crazy ride.

Beijing, as much as it could manage, tried to appear not to dance on the grave of what some were calling the strange death of American liberal democracy. It did not need to party so hard anyway; the mess in Washington spoke volumes by itself.

Besides, the timing was a bit awkward with the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong government proceeding with rounding up its perceived enemies in the city. Those scooped up by police are viewed as valiant, pro-democracy angels by many in the US government and public.

03:15

World shocked by assault on the US Capitol by radical pro-Trump supporters in Washington

And so the standard rhetorical scolding and threatening by members of the US Congress and the media might well have seemed odd given that police in the United States were seen making arrests for violations of law and order in the run-up to and through the invasion of the Capitol Building.