Trade war: The big jump back – How Trump's tariffs awakened China's primal instincts | Capital+
United on the sideboard: State founder Mao (l.) and President Xi
© Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Trump wanted to bring China to its knees with high tariffs; he achieved the opposite: China wants to become an “impregnable fortress” again – and even the founder of the state, Mao, is once again a role model.
When President Xi Jinping fired the first salvo in the great tariff war with the USA on April 6, millions of Chinese were unaware. Instead, the channels of the state broadcaster CCTV dedicated their reports that evening to the annual Qingming commemoration festival. The images from the central Chinese county seat of Shaoshan, birthplace of the communist founder of the state, Mao Zedong, stood out: His only surviving grandson, Xinyu, a portly army general with a round face and crew cut, provided impressive TV images as he paid homage to the famous ancestor with a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, pink lilies, and red bush roses. The message: Remember Mao and be prepared to overcome difficulties and hardships without complaint! The Chinese call this "eating bitterness."
Even though tariffs on trade with the US have been reduced until further notice, public tributes to the "Great Helmsman," who died in 1976, continue. The chief spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry posted a picture of Mao from the time of the Korean War 75 years ago on X, along with the lines: "We are Chinese. We fear no provocations. We will not give in." The party newspaper "Renmin Ribao" recalled the party leader's famous quote that US imperialism was nothing more than a "paper tiger." Media outlets broadcast a scene from a propaganda film about Mao's efforts in the 1950s to develop a Chinese atomic bomb. Its title: "Roaring Over the Horizon!"
capital.de
