US Vice President JD Vance has received backlash for an interview he did with Fox News on 3 April, in which he referred to the Chinese people as “peasants”.
His comments have since gone viral globally, especially in China, where Vance faced the widespread ire of the Chinese people amidst the ongoing trade war between the country and the US.
US Vice President JD Vance faces backlash for calling the Chinese people “peasants”
JD Vance
According to CNN, Vance during the interview defended President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on practically every nation on Earth and criticised the “globalist economy”.
In the Fox News interview, Vance was quoted as saying,
“What has the globalist economy gotten the United States of America? And the answer is, fundamentally, it’s based on two principles – incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us…
“To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
Vance’s comments became the top trending topic on China’s Weibo
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Among those who criticised Vance for his comments include Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, who said that it’s “both astonishing and lamentable” to hear Vance make “such ignorant and disrespectful remarks”.
Meanwhile, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the state-run Chinese publication Global Times said that Vance is the “true peasant” and that because the US Vice President hailed from rural America, he seems to “have a lack of perspective”.
In China, a hashtag on Vance’s remarks became the top trending topic on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, garnering over 140 million views as of today.
The US and China are increasing their reciprocal tariffs against each other
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Previously, Trump announced that the US is imposing tariffs on almost all countries, including Malaysia with a 24% reciprocal tariff.
China was by far the worst hit though, as the 34% reciprocal tariff Trump announced on the country would be on top of the 20% he had previously imposed.
China then retaliated by imposing 34% reciprocal tariffs on all imports from the US, to which Trump replied with a threat of an additional 50% tariff on the country, bringing the total tariff on Chinese imports to the US to 104%.
So, what do you guys think of the whole situation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
