JD Vance’s ‘Peasants’ Jab at China’s Workers Ignites Fury as Trade War Intensifies
Chinese officials in Beijing and Weibo users are shredding Vice President JD Vance for calling the country’s workers “peasants” in a Fox News interview that has since rocketed across the country’s usually censored internet.
Speaking to Fox News in an interview that aired on Thursday, Vance said: “And to make it a little bit more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
On Tuesday night, CNN journalist Will Ripley reported from the region that the clip went viral “within hours,” permissively given an open ride on China’s tightly controlled social media platform Weibo and drawing public outrage and patriotic indignation.
With Trump’s tariff war escalating, Ripley observed, Vance’s viral moment may have just handed Beijing the perfect propaganda gift.
Ripley noted that Chinese censors — usually quick to scrub sensitive or anti-government material — appeared to let the clip flourish. As a result, users mocked Vance as a “true peasant” for his rural roots detailed in his Hillbilly Elegy memoir and circulated clips of his Oval Office joust with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while slamming the comment as condescending.
Speaking to CNN host Erin Burnett, Ripley offered a sharp assessment of Beijing’s strategy in letting the clip circulate: “I think the reason why they’re even amplifying and encouraging people to talk about this is because China knows it’s on the verge of a very serious situation with this trade war. They are preparing people for a fight. And so this just adds ammo to their argument – their anti-American argument.”
Asked about Vance’s comments on Tuesday, Lin Jian, the spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, rebuked the remarks: “It’s both astonishing and lamentable to hear this vice president make such ignorant and disrespectful remarks.”
Watch above via CNN.
