A Chinese official lashed out against the Trump administration on Tuesday, reportedly stating that the “peasants in the United States” will suffer from the trade war.
Xia Baolong, the director of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council, criticized tariff policies levied by the Trump administration as “extremely shameless.”
Appearing to address past remarks by Vice President JD Vance, Xia said “Let those peasants in the United States wail in front of the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization,” according to Reuters.
Vance told Fox News last week that the “globalist economy” in the U.S. is based on the principle of “incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us.”
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“To make it a little bit more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture,” Vance said in an interview, defending Trump’s plan to revitalize U.S. manufacturing. “That is not a recipe for economic prosperity. It’s not a recipe for low prices, and it’s not a recipe for good jobs in the United States of America.”
Beijing’s top official in Hong Kong made the criticism in a pre-recorded address played before the 10th National Security Education Day, according to the South China Morning Post.
Xia said the U.S. is “the biggest sinister manipulator undermining human rights, freedom, the rule of law, prosperity and stability in Hong Kong,” according to an excerpt reported by the outlet.
“The U.S. isn’t after our tariffs but our very survival,” Xia said, according to another excerpt reported by the New York Post. “The US has repeatedly contained and suppressed Hong Kong … and this will eventually backfire on itself.”
He also described the U.S. as a “bully,” vowing that the Chinese government would stand by Hong Kong.
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“The Chinese people do not cause trouble, nor are they afraid of trouble. Pressure, threats and blackmail are not the right way to deal with China,” he added, according to the New York Post.
The U.S. Department of State has said Beijing and Hong Kong officials use national security laws to intimate and harass pro-democracy activists. Beijing has installed sympathetic officials on the once-autonomous island after massive protests in 2019.
It’s not the first time Vance’s remark has drawn the ire of Beijing. Last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said, “To hear words that lack knowledge and respect like those uttered by this Vice President is both surprising and kind of lamentable.”
“China has made its position perfectly clear on its trade relations with the U.S.,” he reportedly said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is touring Southeast Asia this week, and reportedly pitched Beijing as the source of “stability and certainty” in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday.
“As beneficiaries of economic globalization, both China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic resolve, jointly oppose unilateral bullying acts, uphold the global free trade system, and keep global industrial and supply chains stable,” Xi said, according to a statement released by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Trump reacted to the meeting between Xi and Vietnam’s Communist Party leader, To Lam, telling reporters at the White House on Monday that the two were trying to figure out “How do we screw the United States of America?’”
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