Donald Trump's election as new U.S. president is met by protests. (Photo : Getty Images)
Media outlets in China didn't put much attention to covering the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump's victory speech and more airtime was given to Premier Li Keqiang's meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Instructions came from the government to media outfits to stop "excessive" exposure on the victory of Donald Trump. The government is also limiting too much attention to western ideas, according to observers.
However, the limited media focus on Donald Trump news didn't stop Chinese to voice their opinion on the matter. Mixed reactions surfaced from various parts of the world as seen online.
One Sina Weibo user named Zhonghua Junlong posted, "It shows that the U.S. government and democracy have weakened. And at the same times, it provided our country with a prosperous opportunity--it will make China more powerful."
Another netizen named Fangsi de qingchun said, "I think Trump is the tragedy of the American people. How did he win? It must be a scam. Now I think cats and dogs can be president!"
A few days before the election, various survey results showed that Clinton was not favored in China. Another survey from the South China Morning Post showed that Trump was not liked.
Experts on U.S. politics in China also have mixed reactions.
"Trump's election shows the problem of American democracy," said Yu Tiejun, a professor of international studies at Peking University in Beijing.
According to Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, "There is a lot of Chinese schadenfreude about the lowly nature of the debate in the U.S. election campaign. It's a total gift to Chinese propaganda."
