Chinese state media this week gleefully mocked President Joe Biden for bungling the response to Hawaii’s wildfires.
Editorials pushed the Communist Party narrative that only authoritarian governments can handle disasters of such magnitude, and taunted the U.S. for prioritizing military spending over disaster response.
Deadly wildfires in Hawaii, which caused the biggest death toll in more than a century in the US and forced thousands to evacuate from their homes, expose the incompetence of the US government, said analysts, with many local residents who survived the disaster posting videos on social media criticizing the problematic response of local authorities and poor early warning system. Residents also criticized US mainstream media reports, saying this was not just a natural disaster, but also a man-made calamity.
Chinese analysts and web users are paying attention to the horrible tragedy that Americans have suffered, as the hashtags on Sina Weibo about “Hawaii wildfires” have received more than 71.52 million views on Tuesday. Experts said the response of the US government made the US look “unlike a developed country.”
The Global Times ran through stories about fire warnings not sounding, Hawaiians left to fend for themselves without warning or evacuation assistance, and the looting of disaster relief supplies to conclude that state and federal government failed at every turn.
The article made room to needle Biden for his now-infamous “no comment” remark when asked about the Hawaii fires while he was incongruously vacationing on a Delaware beach and marveled that U.S. media outlets protected Biden from the political fallout by obsessively covering the indictments of former President Donald Trump instead.
“Any comment on the rising death toll in Maui?”
BIDEN: “No. No comment.” pic.twitter.com/oORpRuLUpz
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 14, 2023
“When I open the websites or apps of US mainstream media like The New York Times and CNN, the headline story today is about Donald Trump’s legal issues, and other prominent news stories are about Ukraine, but the reports about the most deadly wildfire in more than a century in the US, while the death toll is keep [sic] updating, can only be found at the bottom,” grumbled Chinese Academy of Social Sciences research fellow Lu Xiang.
The Global Times was especially fascinated that the U.S. military was not called in to assist Hawaiians, even though “the Pacific Fleet is right there in Hawaii.”
“In China, the military, police and other professional rescue forces will respond immediately to rescue people every time when disasters occur in any location in China,” the Chinese editors wrote smugly.
The Global Times was so enamored of this point that it returned to the topic with a full-length editorial tirade on Thursday:
Such a large number of casualties would be a major disaster in any country, and it is even more shocking when it occurs in the world’s most developed country. The US is prone to natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. However, the country’s patchy response when dealing with these disasters is perplexing. The US has always proclaimed itself as a “world leader” and claims to be capable of responding rapidly to security threats around the globe. It possesses over 800 military bases overseas and projects its military power with aircraft carriers worldwide. But when it comes to domestic disasters or public safety incidents within the US, its response is slow and its ability to cope seems inadequate.
Although Hawaii is not located on the continental US, it remains one of the most critical military bases for the country. Hawaii serves as the headquarters of the US Indo-Pacific Command. The Indo-Pacific Command claims to “govern” over 50 percent of the world’s surface area, but ironically remains indifferent to the disasters that occur in its own location. What has fueled anger among the local community is the fact that the initial relief work was largely organized by residents themselves, with little presence from the National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state government, or local authorities. An American internet user sarcastically remarked, “Our warships can provoke China in the South China Sea, they can shadow China in Alaska, but they can’t come to Hawaii to help Americans.” This aptly illustrates the hierarchy of decision-making in the US.
US sluggish and indifferent response to its domestic catastrophic incidents sharply contrasts with its fervent resource mobilization in “competition” with other nations. Leaving a deep impression on us, there was the Hurricane “Katrina” in 2005 that resulted in the loss of 1,836 lives, and the train derailment in East Palestine earlier this year carrying hazardous chemicals. There was also the Florida building collapse in 2021 that claimed 98 lives, and the slow rescue efforts during that time were referred to as “archaeological-style rescue.” A foreign netizen said, “The ‘American-style rescue’ in Hollywood movies is nowhere to be seen, with no American rescue heroes or high-tech equipment.” This observation seems to be perfectly fitting for every disaster in America, including the current Hawaii wildfires.
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