Chinese State Media Celebrate Communist Ambush of CNN Reporter

China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday applauded a crowd outside the shuttered U.S. consulate in Chengdu for drowning out a CNN report by loudly singing nationalist songs, and generally congratulated China for having a great sense of humor about the diplomatic crossfire of embassy closings.

The Global Times pontificated:

On Monday morning, as a CNN correspondent was reporting in front of the soon-to-be-closed U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu, he was drowned out by a chorus of ‘Ode to the Motherland’ being sung off camera. The CNN news anchorman in the studio commented, ‘Everyone is singing happily.’ He did not know that this is the people of Chengdu expressing their attitude towards the China-U.S. consulate closure spat with their songs. It actually represents the attitude of the mainstream society in China.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) went on to reiterate the Party’s narrative about the U.S. government inexplicably closing the Chinese consulate in Houston for no reason and accused American law enforcement officers of “breaking into” the consulate after it was closed.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has yet to elaborate on its allegation that U.S. federal agents “improperly entered” the building after the Chinese diplomatic staff left, and of course the Global Times had nothing critical to say about Chinese officials entering the U.S. consulate in Chengdu after it was vacated.

“The US side should be blamed for this round of rapid deterioration of China-U.S. relations. The closure and takeover of the US consulate in Chengdu by the Chinese side is a completely justified and necessary response that conforms to international law and norms,” the Global Times editorialized. 

“The move also received the support of the general public. It’s noted that both the public at the scene in Chengdu and Chinese netizens on the Internet, many saw the incident with calmness, even with a sense of humor. The mood stands in stark contrast to the exasperation of Washington’s politicians,” the article continued.

Far from being exasperated, American officials may have gone easy on the Chinese by closing the Houston consulate, as the New York Post asserted on Tuesday.

While there has been much discussion of the Chinese espionage activities coordinated out of Houston, their consulates in San Francisco and New York City are much worse, especially with San Francisco located close to California’s tech hubs. The San Francisco consulate also played a role in recruiting the spy who worked for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) for almost twenty years.