Capitol Storming... Chinese Media Talks About U.S. Failure of Leadership

This morning, Chinese media considered the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump is something which reflects a failure of leadership as well as the deep pision running through American society.

On Wednesday, hundreds of supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol, triggering harsh accusation from Democrats and denounce from Republicans, to what they considered an incitement attitude by the outgoing president. On her part, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi described as "an armed insurrection against America".

The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party newspaper, described the riots as a sign of "internal collapse" in the U.S. political system that could not easily be reversed.

"The unprecedented mob in the Capitol, a symbol of the U.S. system, is the result of the U.S. society's severe pision and the country's failure to control such pision," it said.

"As time goes by and with abuses of resources by generations of politicians, the U.S. political system has degraded," the paper added.

It also slammed what it described as "double standards" among U.S. politicians, pointing out to  Pelosi's description of the Hong Kong protests in 2019 as "a beautiful sight to behold".

"In Hong Kong, violent actions are described as a 'beautiful sight,' in the U.S., people involved in this chaos are called 'mobs'," the Global Times said.

According to Reuters, Pelosi's comments have been widely mocked on China's Twitter-like Weibo service, with the Communist Party Youth League also using the words "beautiful sight" to describe the unrest in Washington.

Other netizens described the riots as "karma", and one joked that this was the first attempted coup in the Americas that happened "without the involvement of U.S. embassies", according to the Global Times.

Further more, State broadcaster CCTV used the crisis to lambast the U.S. political system, saying "the fig-leaf of so-called American democracy has been torn clean off".

"The United States, which has always promoted democracy and human rights, is now the country of riots, conflicts and curfews," it said.

The official China Daily newspaper said the "narrow nationalism" of President Trump had taken a toll on the United States.

"The violence and chaos that have erupted in the U.S. over the past year show what happens when a country's leaders lose touch with reality," it added.