Chinese commentators mocked the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, pointing out the president’s repeated verbal stumbles and the questions over the truthfulness of his rival.

Biden was widely seen as the loser of the debate. With his voice sounding hoarse and sometimes appearing to go off track in his remarks, his performance was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats in America at a time that he had been fighting questions over his age.

“Personal attacks, hazy memory, mocking each other… this debate was very entertaining for many Chinese people,” wrote high profile media commentator and former state media editor Hu Xijin on X, where he has more than 560,000 followers despite it being banned for most people in China.

“Objectively speaking, the low-quality performance of these two old men was a negative advertisement for Western democracy,” he said, posting clips of the video with a jokey musical soundtrack.

China is seen by the United States as its main strategic rival and Beijing has made clear that it seeks to displace a U.S. dominated world order in its rise to global pre-eminence.

Under the rule of the Communist Party, there are no such thing as presidential debates or national presidential elections and President Xi Jinping has cemented his position as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. At 71, Xi is younger than both Trump, 78, and Biden, 81.

Although Trump criticized Biden in the debate for allegedly being in China’s pocket, that drew less attention for Chinese watchers than the performance of the candidates.

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