‘Get ready for round 2’: Chinese social media reacts to Trump’s election victory

SINGAPORE: This week the world watched with bated breath as former US President Donald Trump, whose anti-immigration rhetoric included inflammatory and sexist comments, achieved a large election victory.

In China, internet users have been closely following the election and interest in Trump’s performance and power over voters has exploded online through domestic social media platforms and apps.

As vote counting concluded on Wednesday, microblogging trends and hashtags dominated heated discussions among millions of Chinese Internet users, who weighed in on Trump’s “luck” and his chances of success, as well as a “disappointing” performance by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The winner of this year’s election will have a far-reaching impact on China as its contentious relationship with the US grows, analysts and political observers say.

On the Xiaohongshu app, China’s version of Instagram, the hashtag “Trump wins US election in 2024” ranked number one among users as they reshared Trump videos and memes. “At the ripe old age of 78, I got his ear scraped (by a bullet)was persecuted and almost imprisoned, appealed sixty times, and yet he still looked for a job. Now that he has found one that suits him,” one user commented.

Many also found humor in the news of Trump’s victory. “Congratulations America, it’s a boy,” read a top-rated comment under a video shared by a state news site.

“IT’S OFFICIAL, HE’S BACK”

On the microblogging site Sina Weibo, where US election news is strictly filtered by Chinese state censors, several Trump-related threads dominated the discussion among millions of users.

“Trump declares victory” was the top trend on Weibo on November 6, reaching at least 510 million views. “It’s official, he’s back,” one Weibo user wrote in a comment that attracted more than 15,000 likes. “Our condolences to you (America). Get ready for round two.”

“Putin is satisfied,” said another.

“Looks like there’s a show to watch for the next four years,” another Weibo user wrote in a comment that was liked more than 38,000 times.