China’s state-run media was quick to criticize President Biden’s State of the Union address. Using sophisticated propaganda, the CCP media portrays Biden as being an empty suit; that Biden uses the speech to unfairly attack China, and that the speech reveals that the United States is a very divided nation.

Claim #1: President Biden is an Empty Suit

Chinese state-run media are using Biden’s State of the Union speech to highlight that he is an empty suit. According to China Daily, Biden’s address “said nothing at all,” and quoting Shakespeare, was “[a] tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” According to another China Daily article, “…Biden offered little fresh thoughts in his expressions on major country relations in his speech, exposing his administration’s lack of political wisdom.” According to Global Times, “the address gives people the impression that it doesn’t have much fresh and practical content.” That same article quipped that “[f]rankly speaking, in terms of demeanor and breadth of vision, this speech does not look like a State of the Union address made by the president of a major country that considers itself a world leader.”

Claim #2: President Biden Attacks China Unfairly

Chinese media also claimed that Biden used the speech to maliciously attack China. According to China Daily, Biden’s State of the Union speech contained “petulant, childish and even abusive comments on China.” According to Global Times, “…Biden’s speech reflects that he has accepted the wrong perception of China that is popular in Washington and regards China-US relations as a negative-sum game, where ‘you lose more, and I lose less.’” According to another China Daily article, “with the fomenting anti-China atmosphere on Capitol Hill, President Biden feels tempted to resort to the China-bashing tactic to overcome political gridlock.” Additionally, that article comments that “[w]ith American politicians across the aisle racing to the bottom on being hawkish on China, Beijing has become a handy tool for Biden to unify both parties to push his policy agenda.”

And according to Chinese media, such attacks are neither constructive nor reasonable. An article in China Dailystates that Biden’s words on China contained “bluff, bluster and empty threats,” and “[t]here was not a single friendly, warm, positive or constructive suggestion in it to improve relations with Beijing.” According to the same article, Biden used the State of the Union to “indulge…in his favorite theme of US virtue and self-righteousness,” and “in patent absurdities and outright lies.”

Claim #3: SOTU and the Reactions to It Reveal United States is Divided

While the CCP media claims that an anti-China rhetoric is uniting Democrats and Republicans, it maintains that the State of the Union otherwise reflects a highly divided United States. According to Global Times, “Some Republican lawmakers even booed Biden during his speech, which vividly indicates that the political division in the country has not been gapped and the ‘unity’ and ‘healing’ sought by Biden has not been achieved,” and that the US remains “politically divided, sensitive, anxious, and unconfident…” According to China Daily, “All told, despite [President Biden’s] wishes, the speech has done little to revive the country’s muddled public opinion in a favorable direction to him, or mend the relations between the two parties.”

Chinese state-run media used President Biden’s State of the Union address to mock the president, claim that the United States has malicious intent towards China, and that the US is a very divided country. This contrasts with its portrayal of Chinese foreign policy as benevolent and competent, with the Chinese people united on core interests such as “re-unifying” with Taiwan. The CCP media’s portrayal of the State of the Union is the latest in an ongoing sophisticated propaganda war against the United States.

Follow Steve Postal on Twitter @HebraicMosaic