The shocking news of Donald Trump being shot has stunned the world. On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, the related posts have garnered over 300 million reads. Analysts believe that Trump’s sudden incident has provided some freedom of expression on the Chinese internet, sparking attention to internal issues within the Chinese Communist Party.
In the early hours of Sunday, “Trump Shot” became a hot topic on Weibo, reaching 660 million reads by the evening with 153,000 discussions, holding the top spot on the trending list for over 12 hours. The topic of “Trump’s Right Ear Pierced by Bullet” had already surpassed 3 billion reads, firmly establishing itself as the top trending topic.
According to a report by Voice of America, half of the top 20 trending topics on Weibo were related to the incident, reaching up to 10 at one point. Real-time updates on the scene, such as “Trump’s Right Ear Pierced by Bullet,” “One Person Dead at the Scene,” and “Suspect Gunman Shot Dead,” along with US President Joe Biden’s response, have all garnered significant attention from internet users.
On Sunday, Biden, accompanied by Vice President Harris, Attorney General Garland, and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, delivered a brief statement at the White House. He confirmed that he had a “brief, but good” conversation with Trump following the shooting incident.
Biden condemned the assassination attempt on Trump and stated that such violence has no place in America. He emphasized the importance of unity, stating, “We cannot allow such things to happen. Unity is the hardest goal to achieve, but there is nothing more important than unity at this moment.”
In contrast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed late Sunday afternoon that President Xi Jinping had expressed condolences to former President Trump. The Foreign Ministry statement expressed concern about the shooting incident involving Trump and Xi’s sympathy for the former US president.
On Sunday morning, the FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crukes as the shooter. Materials for making explosives were found in Crukes’ car and residence during the search. The reason behind Crukes’ attempt to kill Trump remains a mystery.
Chinese state media outlets Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, and various major news media extensively covered the shooting. The sequence of events, the potential involvement of a staged act, and the impact of the incident on Trump’s political prospects were of particular interest to Chinese public opinion.
The term “staged act” in the comments section was interpreted by netizens as “military experts suspect a staged act,” with some even agreeing, saying, “It has been rehearsed hundreds of times.” However, such conspiracy theories were countered by more bloggers and netizens, who argued that Trump’s ear injury, which narrowly missed his brain, along with supporters being injured or killed at the scene, made it unlikely to be staged.
British Journalist Association member He Yue pointed out that the enthusiasm of Chinese netizens to discuss the Trump shooting incident reflects their usual constraints on political speech, where they can only freely discuss negative political topics from democratic countries like the US.
He Yue told Voice of America, “Since Chinese netizens cannot talk about Chinese politics, discussing others’ politics (the shooting incident) seems to provide a place for venting. The most heated discussions revolve around whether this is a calculated move or not? Who orchestrated it? People living in a world of ‘stage-play realism’ for too long view everything as fake, judging foreigners with such mindset.”
Hu Ping, Honorary Editor-in-Chief of “Beijing Spring,” stated to Radio Free Asia that China is currently in a tense period with the upcoming Third Plenum, loosening internet controls on the Trump incident allows netizens to enjoy greater freedom of speech. The relaxation on discussing the event is perceived as more advantageous than disadvantageous to the authorities.
Hu Ping said, “This topic was already hot, and it’s hard to control. It doesn’t directly impact the so-called political security of the Chinese Communist Party, so they think it’s okay to let it slide. Also, it benefits them; if everyone is discussing this, they talk less about China’s own issues, such as coal-to-oil problems, flooding, and the Third Plenum.”
He believes that this internet break is only temporary, and the focus of discussions will soon return to the Third Plenum.