Trump's Conviction as Viewed by Fudan University Scholar Meng Weizhan

"The Democrats are now in control and Trump is at their mercy. They can deal with him in whichever way they want ... Even if he becomes president again, he will remain politically weak."

“Chaos”, “division”, “dysfunctional democracy” and “biased judiciary” were some of the recurring themes in commentaries published in China following Donald Trump’s conviction last week.

“The trial is above all a blow to American democracy”, commented the omnipresent Zheng Yongnian (郑永年), a prolific political analyst and scholar from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Ren Yi (任意), aka Chairman Rabbit, another well-known and well-connected political commentator, echoed this line: “The outcome of the election is uncertain, but one thing is certain: no matter which side wins, America’s [political] system is the loser.”

The subtext in many of these commentaries is clearly how comparatively safe, stable and, most importantly, “democratic” China is. “In today's world, the contrast between Chinese governance and the chaos in the West … is becoming more prominent”, writes the director of CASS’s Institute of Political Science, Zhang Shuhua (张树华). “The Communist Party of China … has created a…