Beijing's Flagship Newspaper Calls Rubio an `Anti-China Clown'

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese state media lashed out at U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, calling him an “anti-China clown” who has influenced other lawmakers against Beijing after he proposed legislation to prevent Huawei Technologies Co. from seeking damages in U.S. patent courts.

“Rubio has spared no effort to play the anti-China clown,” the Communist Party's flagship newspaper People's Daily wrote in a Tuesday commentary. “Recently, he has been trumpeting the ‘benefit theory' of imposing tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S., while ignoring facts and making ridiculous arguments that capitulation to China will cause long-term and even permanent damage to the U.S. economy.”

The Florida Republican is a “notorious anti-China senator” whose proposal is ridiculous, the nationalist Global Times said Tuesday, following a trend of naming U.S. officials in Chinese propaganda. The newspaper last week accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of fueling tensions between the two countries, saying it was “this era's tragedy” that the world was forced to deal with him.

Read more: Trade War Fight Song Shows Growing Anti-U.S. Sentiment in China

“Most of the anti-China proposals in the U.S. Congress in recent years are reminiscent of Rubio,” the Global Times said. “The Rubio-alike have a strong ideological bias.” The commentaries came as President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had a “very good” phone conversation with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, ahead of a meeting between them next week at the G-20 in Japan.

Hong Kong

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has demanded Verizon Communications Inc. pay $1 billion to license the rights to patented technology, according to a Tuesday statement from Rubio's office.

The backlash against Rubio comes on the heels of his co-sponsoring a bipartisan measure defending Hong Kong's autonomy in response to historic protests against the city's move to allow extraditions to mainland China for the first time.

Beijing has ramped up anti-U.S. rhetoric in the weeks since trade talks between the two countries fell apart in May, with state media running commentaries urging unified resistance to foreign pressure.

Earlier: U.S. Lawmakers Begin Push to Support Hong Kong Demonstrators

The Global Times has run recent commentaries accusing the U.S. of interference in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, even connecting the week of demonstrations to ongoing trade negotiations.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Colin Keatinge

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Bloomberg