China took a parting shot at former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, wishing him and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “good riddance” on Twitter.
The snarky comment came during the final hours of Trump’s presidency and underscored the prickly relationship between the two nations.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency posted a tweet that read, “Good Riddance, Donald Trump!” The tweet included a link to an English-language commentary article that Xinhua published over the weekend titled “Good riddance, Trump administration and its final madness.”
Good Riddance, Donald Trump! https://t.co/kYNQ0jTCfH pic.twitter.com/UoDm8RIT6V
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 20, 2021
The article slammed America’s policy gestures against Beijing during the Trump years as part of a “preposterous show” and urged new policymakers not to “be led astray by a small bunch of extreme forces.”
Around the same time that the tweet was sent, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman called out Pompeo, describing him as a “doomsday clown” and that said his designation of China as a perpetrator of genocide and crimes against humanity was merely “a piece of wastepaper.”
During his last full day in office, Pompeo accused China and its ruling Communist Party of carrying out a genocide against Muslim Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region.
“I have determined that the People’s Republic of China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, China, targeting Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups,” Pompeo tweeted.
I have determined that the People’s Republic of China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, China, targeting Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 19, 2021
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called the allegations of abuse an “outright sensational pseudopropositions and a malicious farce concocted by individual anti-China and anti-Communist forces represented by Pompeo.”
“In our view, Pompeo’s so-called designation is a piece of wastepaper. This American politician, who is notorious for lying and deceiving, is turning himself into a doomsday clown and joke of the century with his last madness and lies of the century,” Hua said.
The attacks on Trump and Pompeo are in stark contrast to previously restrained coverage that China’s media outlets gave to other U.S. presidents.
Trump seemed to irritate China even before he took office by accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan’s president. Trump has also blamed Beijing for the U.S. trade deficit, alleged technology theft, and more recently faulted China for the coronavirus pandemic.
