In an unexpected TV spectacle, Fox Business’ Trish Regan faced off against Liu Xin of Chinese State broadcaster CGTN on Wednesday night (8pm ET; 8am Thursday morning Beijing time). The two had pledged to hold an “honest debate” concerning the trade war between the US and China after an online spat that featured accusations of “misinformation” and “spitting fire”.
Taking place against a backdrop of Robert Mueller’s statement on investigations into President Trump and Chinese State media’s warnings about escalating the trade war via restrictions on rare earth minerals, the conversation aired on Fox after Liu offered to debate Regan “on your turf”.
Liu cited “rights issues” for the segment not being simulcast on CGTN or the network’s domestic arm CCTV and wrote on Twitter that, “given the short notice, I’ll have to do it via satellite from our BJ studio”. Nevertheless, a quick hunt on China’s main search engine Baidu revealed a host of links for streaming the interview that Regan billed as one that “all of China seems to be talking about” — many boasting that viewers would not need a VPN for access (something internet users in China would require to access CGTN’s live tweeting of the debate).
We’ve highlighted some of the key moments and reactions to the discussion below. For a recap of how this slightly odd event came to be, check out our previous post on the Fox-CCTV trade war debate here:
The Key Quotes
The Niceties
Regan: “She and I may not agree on everything, but this is a unique opportunity. An opportunity to hear a different view. It’s helpful to hear what China is thinking about the trade war and the US. My guest is part of the CCP and that’s fine — I welcome different views on this show.”
Liu: “I need to correct something. I have to get it straight — I am not a member of the Communist Party of China and I don’t speak for the Communist Party.”
#XINvsTRISH Earlier, @CGTNOfficial‘s Weibo posted this behind the scenes look at Liu Xin prepping for her appearance.
“I’ve not made any special preparations for this debate, I’ll just go with my feeling” pic.twitter.com/ZATjaFJs0A
— RADII (@RadiiChina) May 30, 2019
On the Trade War
Liu: “The Chinese government has made its position very clear: unless the US treat the negotiation team with respect […] there is not a high possibility of a trade deal.”
Regan: “Trade wars are never good. I wanna believe that something can get done.”
On Intellectual Property Theft
Regan: “There is evidence that China has stolen intellectual property.”
Liu: “Many American companies have been founded in China and have been very profitable, and the great majority plan to stay and explore the market. I do not deny there are copyright issues or piracy or even theft of commercial secrets — I think that has to be dealt with. Without the protection of IP rights, no country, no individual can develop themselves. […] There are companies in the United States that sue each other all the time [over such issues].”
A very spicy overlay of examples of intellectual property theft by Chinese companies against US business. Liu Xin stresses that Chinese society as a whole is against theft and says “blanket statements” are unfair. Regan counters that these are confirmed examples. pic.twitter.com/tMPbLrvYvA
— RADII (@RadiiChina) May 30, 2019
Liu, in response to Regan asking about forced technology transfer: “If you pay for the use of this technology, why not? We all prosper because we learn from each other. I think that’s fine so long as it’s not illegal.”
Regan: “We all need to play by the rules if we’re going to have that kind of trust.”
On China’s Developing Nation Status
Liu: “You ask why don’t you just grow up? We want to grow up, we don’t want to be dwarfed or poor or under-developed. But don’t forget we have 1.4 billion people, over three times the population of the United States. People are looking upon us to do much more around the world and we’re doing that […] because we know we have to grow up and Trish, thank you for your reminder.”
On Tariffs
Regan: “Why don’t we just get rid of tariffs?”
Liu: “I think that would be a wonderful idea. I think we should work towards that. But you talked about a rule-based system; if you want to change the rules, it has to be done through mutual consensus. It’s not just about US and China. It’s a very complicated settlement to reach.”
#XINvsTRISH Liu Xin: When we talk about tariffs, it’s not just between China and the United States. If you don’t like the rules then let’s change the rules, but it has to be a multilateral decision.
More: https://t.co/E6Ssh4n9cJ #ChinaUS pic.twitter.com/fT3tWmzD6u
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) May 30, 2019
On China’s Economic Model
Regan: “How do you define State capitalism? Your system of economics is very interesting.”
Liu: “We would like to define it as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’, where market forces play the dominant role in allocation of resources. We want it to be a market economy but there are some Chinese characteristics — there are some State enterprises that are playing an important but decreasing role in the economy. Not everything is State-run. We’re very, very open as well.”
Regan: “You need to keep being open. Then you get a win-win. No one wants a trade war but we have to think carefully about next steps.”
The Reaction
Both presenters referred to the segment as “unprecedented” in the build-up, and it was certainly fascinating to see a Chinese State TV anchor given such a platform on a mainstream US network. Liu was very keen to stress that she spoke only for herself, but she was also able to put across a number of key Party talking points on the trade disagreements without much of a challenge from Regan.
In the immediate aftermath, Liu was interviewed by her own network and stated that she hoped her words would sink in with US audiences:
#XINvsTRISH Liu Xin looks back at her debate with Trish Regan
More: https://t.co/c6038ps3ol #ChinaUS pic.twitter.com/zgeQoe2VHN— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) May 30, 2019
Regan meanwhile, led with Liu’s admission that Chinese companies had engaged in IP theft, though she also wrote on Twitter that she felt it had been a “productive conversation”.
That’s good to hear. I agree – a productive conversation. We can use a little of that these days. https://t.co/u8NvVu7vg0
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) May 30, 2019
Emily Rauhala, former China correspondent at the Washington Post, noted:
In sum: Not much of a showdown! Questions were pro-forma, answers polite. Would have loved to see Liu push Regan on Trump’s unilateral approach to trade, or see Regan press Liu on something like Xinjiang and the economy. Was left wondering if these questions were pre-negotiated?
— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) May 30, 2019
Chinese State-run paper Global Times, seemed pretty happy with how it’d gone:
The widely-anticipated “debate” between @thepointwithlx and @trish_regan has ended. Friendly, meaningful talks. Both agreed: trade war is bad! (For Trish, that’s a change of heart, since she had tried to justify the US trade war against China.) (Photo via @CGTNOfficial ) pic.twitter.com/MPOomOBI14
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 30, 2019
But numerous Chinese users complained that the segment was “more like an interview than a debate”, with many posting GIFs of what they had expected versus the reality:
Despite the civil tone of the “debate”, a trending hashtag on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo complained that “In less than 30 seconds, Regan interrupted Liu 3 times”. Both parties acknowledging a tricky satellite delay on the line at the top of the conversation.
Chinese magazine Beijing Review felt it was a one-sided conversation:
While DW News‘s William Yang noted:
Most Chinese netizens on @SinaWeibo were all a bit disappointed by the debate, describing it more like a Q and A. But there’s no shortage of patriotic vibe on there for sure. #XINvsTRISH #XinLiu pic.twitter.com/Cy36KKDCqV
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) May 30, 2019
Watch the “Debate”
Fox were quick to get the video up online. If you want to watch it back, you can follow the link to their site below:
My thanks to Xin @thepointwithlx for joining me tonight to discuss the #China U.S. #trade relationship! #TrishRegan You can watch ENTIRE segment HERE: https://t.co/tYiStm60le
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) May 30, 2019
