A recent assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has caught massive attention in China. Chinese media outlets have continuously reported related news. Furthermore, T-shirts with pictures of Trump clenching his fists after the attack have been introduced to the market.
China Central Television (CCTV) reported the news as the tenth headline on its main news program, Xinwen Lianbo, on Sunday. They reported an attempted assassination on Trump during his rally, citing the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The international news segment dedicated a significant 51 seconds to the story.
Other media outlets started reporting soon after. For instance, Southern Metropolis Daily and The Beijing News published several related articles. The latter included two pages of international news detailing the situation at the time of the shooting. They also reported reactions from U.S. media and interviews with Chinese experts. People’s Daily and Global Times also published articles about the shooting on pages 1, 2, and 4.
In contrast, the People’s Daily only published a single column related to the incident on page 3. It reported an announcement from a foreign ministry spokesperson stating that Chinese President Xi Jinping had expressed his condolences to Trump.
On the other hand, hashtags related to Trump’s shooting trended to the top spots on China’s largest social media platform, Weibo. Similarly, other social media platforms also showed significant traction in related articles.
Chinese experts also showed great interest by contributing named columns to various media outlets. Most seemed to criticize the American political situation. For example, Wang Yong, head of the American Research Center at Peking University, noted the lack of social change amid severe income disparity caused polarization of American politics and political violence. He warned that political violence and social instability would increase in the U.S.
The quick commercial response also opened up discussions. The press released the photo of the incident around 6 PM. However, it only took two hours for t-shirts printed with the picture of the shooting to be sold on Taobao. China has a unique perspective when it comes to commercial tactics.
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