TV Hosts' Trade War Fight Goes Viral on Chinese Social Media
TV Hosts' Trade War Fight Goes Viral on Chinese Social Media
(Bloomberg) -- An online fight between a Fox Business Network host and a broadcaster for Chinese state television has garnered over 20 million views on China’s popular Sina Weibo micro-blogging site and generated thousands of comments.
Fox’s Trish Regan this week said on her show that the U.S. has no choice but to wage a trade war against China. Liu Xin, a host for state-run channel China Global Television Network, responded on her own prime time opinion program by saying Regan was acting like a spokesperson for President Donald Trump.
Regan then defended herself in an 11-minute clip and tweeted an invitation for a debate to Chinese state television. “You accuse me of being ‘emotional’ and not knowing my facts - wrong! You name the time and place, and I’ll be there!” she wrote. Liu responded saying she would get back to her "very soon."
Posts on Weibo about the spat with the hashtag "Fox anchor seeks debate after being called emotional by CCTV," had been viewed more than 20 million times by Friday evening, and prompted about 7,600 comments. The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid associated with the Communist Party, also weighed in asking: "do we have a date?"
China has escalated its anti-U.S. discourse since trade talks faltered and Trump blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co. and scores of its affiliates earlier this month in a bid to stymie its access to the U.S. market. His administration is now considering restrictions on as many as five other Chinese technology companies.
Chinese media has run commentaries urging unified resistance to foreign pressure, and a de facto trade war “theme song” was widely shared on-line.
Trump, meanwhile, called Huawei “very dangerous” on Thursday, and said it could be part of an eventual trade agreement.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.net;April Ma in Beijing at ama112@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, Ayesha Sruti
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