US Election 2020: Chinese state media mocks 'embarrassing' Trump, Biden debate, claims US no longer 'attractive superpower'

Chinese state media has laid into Wednesday's Donald Trump and Joe Biden debate, with the editor of one prominent outlet saying there is "chaos at the top of US politics".

The first US 2020 Presidential debate held on Wednesday afternoon (NZT) featured both candidates repeatedly interrupting each other, making personal insults, and bickering over their policies. The current President, Trump, refused on several occasions to stop talking and ignored rules agreed on by both camps prior to the debate.

It's since been widely condemned as among the messiest in US history and the organisation in charge of the debates has acknowledged the backlash, promising to make changes before round two in two weeks time. 

One of those hitting out at the debate is Hu Xijin, the Editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a Chinese media outlet backed by the Communist Party

"The two political leaders of the US obviously did not show an exemplary role to American people on how to engage in debates. Such a chaos at the top of US politics reflects division, anxiety of US society and the accelerating loss of advantages of the US political system," Hu tweeted.

The relationship between China and the United States has long been testy, particularly since Trump was elected in 2016 and began working to stem China's growing international influence. 

Strong comments from senior US figures, such as the President and Secretary of States, on Beijing's actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang haven't been warmly received by China, which has accused the Western nation of interference in domestic affairs.

Hu's Global Times stated in an article that "Chinese analysts" believed the debate "showed the world a divided and chaotic US that is no longer an attractive superpower in terms of politics and soft power".

"The embarrassing debate full of interruptions and pointless personal attacks largely reflects the recession of US national power."

Two experts were referenced in the article -  Zhang Tengjun, an expert on US politics at the China Institute of International Studies, and Lu Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

Both of those organisations are connected to the Chinese state. 

The China Institute of International Studies is described on its website as "the think tank of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is an institution working under the country's State Council

Zhang apparently told the Global Times that the chaos seen in the debate "is an epitome of US politics and representation of the sharp confrontation within US society". 

The article mentioned that common keywords about the debate found on social media and in mainstream media comments included "embarrassment, disgrace, awful, mess and chaos". 

That does line up with how some American media personalities described it

"This was an absolutely awful debate that did absolutely nothing to educate the public about the two candidates and what they would do if given four years to serve as president of the United States," CNN editor Chris Cillizza said.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said the debate was "a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck".

The New York Times' David Sanger said: "It started out as a debate, and ended up as a brawl. True, we saw two radically different views of how to govern the country. But we didn't get too much substance between all the cross-talk, name-calling and interruptions".

The Global Times said people in the US and around the world wouldn't have seen anything "valuable" in the debate about policies or governance.

Despite the horrendous reviews, Trump's campaign seemed pleased with his performance.

"Tonight, the American people witnessed President Trump deliver a strong, focused debate performance—a stark contrast from Joe Biden’s weakness on virtually every issue," tweeted the Trump War Room, and retweeted by the President.

Biden said he "laid our [his] vision for a stronger, more inclusive America".