Familiarity and contempt: Hillary Clinton’s 21-year relationship with China
US presidential candidate’s high-profile advocacy of human rights has riled leaders in Beijing
There’s never been a US presidential candidate better known to China’s 1.3 billion people than Hillary Clinton.
Thanks to more than two decades of high-profile engagement with the country, as first lady, US senator, secretary of state and two-time presidential candidate, Clinton is also a controversial figure in China, with that familiarity generating occasional gusts of contempt.
She has made it clear that there is room in the world for both the United States and China
When she announced her long-expected decision to run for president in April last year, the response from Chinese internet users was swift and harsh, with one of the most popular comments, on a news website run by state broadcaster China Central Television, calling her an “old witch”, and another suggesting she would start world war three.
In 2013, when Clinton ended her four years as secretary of state, the nationalistic Global Times issued a special report marking her departure that included a commentary describing her as “the most hated American politician among Chinese internet users”.
However, a survey released last Wednesday found that Clinton, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, is better liked in China than her Republican rival Donald Trump.
Clinton was viewed favourably by 37 per cent of respondents, compared with just 22 per cent for Trump, according to the survey, conducted in China by the US-based Pew Research Centre. She was viewed unfavourably by 35 per cent of respondents, while 40 per cent had an unfavourable impression of Trump.