‘US could sell its aircraft carriers to China to cut deficit’ – Beijing rebukes ‘tired’ Mike Pence
Official news agency Xinhua runs combative opinion pieces in response to US vice-president’s accusations
Chinese state media rolled out a slew of combative opinion pieces in response to US Vice-President Mike Pence’s accusations against Beijing last week, as rhetoric intensifies in the widening strategic conflict between the powers.
The nearly 5,400-word screed by “Zhong Xuanli”, a pseudonym used by the Central Propaganda Department’s Theory Bureau, sought to refute the vice-president’s address point by point, including a remarkable proposal for Beijing to buy four US Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers to help close China’s trade surplus with the US.
“The problem is not that China does not buy, but that the United States does not sell,” the piece argued, referencing the escalating trade war between the two countries. “For example, is the US willing to sell its Ford-class aircraft carriers? If one piece is priced at US$15 billion and the US sells four to China, we can immediately narrow the trade gap by US$60 billion.”
“Pence even said that much of China’s success was driven by American investment in China and that the US ‘rebuilt’ China over the last 25 years – what a huge joke!”
Official news agency Xinhua ran at least eight nationalistic opinion pieces, penned by authors in academia, business and government, that likewise took an indignant tone, with headlines reading: “Mr Pence must be tired”, “Uncle Sam should not have amnesia” and “China’s development did not come from other people’s charity or favours”.