What election?

Stranded in a hotel room half way around the world in east Beijing, you would probably forgive me for being a little out of the loop when it comes to the latest General Election developments. Sure, I can log on to the Guardian and track Andrew Sparrow’s live blog or get the latest election headlines on CNN in between rolling footage of ash cloud and stranded tourists, but in the English language press here in China there’s very little coverage of the closest electoral contest in 20 years in Britain.

That said, one article in yesterday’s Global Times, China’s leading daily for international affairs did catch my eye. Indeed, it is the one and only piece I have seen on the UK election since arriving in Beijing last Tuesday. The paper ran the story about Nick Clegg calling for the end to the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US:

‘The leader of one of Britain’s most important political parties said on Tuesday that the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the United States was a relic of a bygone age and needed reassessing.’

The article then goes on to say that this latest interjection by Clegg comes at the end of a ‘remarkable week’ in which he has become, referring to round one of the televised TV debates, ‘an overnight sensation’ with support for the Liberal Democrats moving up ‘in some polls to parity with the ruling Labor (sic) party’.

According to the reporter, ‘Clegg’s party could win the election, and in the event of a hung parliament... he could play a key role in forming a governing coalition.’

Couched alongside successive articles (here, here and here) dismissing the call from some US senators for China to revalue the Yuan, and another in the state-run China Daily reporting a recent US poll that suggests that 80 per cent of Americans have no faith in the federal Government, this latest article about a relatively minor incident in the British election debate appears to conform to a particular trend.

While I don’t doubt that there is genuine interest in European politics in China, this article has as its raison d’être one thing and one thing only. This coverage of Nick Clegg, the ‘star so far of the campaign’ according to the newspaper, has nothing to do with the Liberal Democrats’ prediction of the financial crisis or the party’s policies for public service reform in Northern England.

Instead, it has everything to do with the message that this particular story conveys to the Chinese people: China is not alone in its critique of the US, China is right to stand up to the US and China should continue to do just that.

This minor piece of coverage of the British electoral debate in China serves merely to reinforce Chinese perceptions of the US during the latest cooling of relations between the two global superpowers. One thing is for sure, while a future Prime Minister Clegg might expect a somewhat guarded welcome on his first state visit to DC, he would likely be greeted much more warmly in Beijing.

David Nash