“BANGKOK – A dissident once branded Enemy No. 1 by the Chinese Communist Party is spreading conspiracy theories about vote-rigging in the American presidential election.
Pro-democracy campaigners from Hong Kong are championing President Trump’s claims of an electoral victory.
Human rights activists and religious leaders in Vietnam and Myanmar are expressing reservations about President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to keep authoritarians in check.
It might seem counterintuitive that Asian defenders of democracy are among the most ardent supporters of Mr. Trump, who has declared his friendship with Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un of North Korea. But it is precisely Mr. Trump’s willingness to flout diplomatic protocol, abandon international accords and keep his opponents off-balance that have earned him plaudits as a leader strong enough to stand up to dictators and defend democratic ideals.
Source: ‘Trump Is Better’: In Asia, Pro-Democracy Forces Worry About Biden – The New York Times, By Hannah Beech, Nov. 30, 2020 Updated 11:57 a.m. ET
David Lindsay NYT Comment
Thank you Hannah Beech, for a fascinating report. It is most interesting to hear how fake news and conspiracy theories promulgated by Asian and Russian? sources have polluted the view of countless dissidents into thinking Biden might be much worse than Trump. I hope you revisit this topic every quarter, since after each quarter that Biden runs the government, it might leak out that he is competent, fair and serious. I believe that a bell weather sign for China, will be the success of rejoining the TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership, which is now expected. It will help organize a framework for containing bad Chinese behavior, 20 times better than any silly tariff Trump has put on the backs of the American consumer.
David Lindsay Jr. is the author of “The Tay Son Rebellion, Historical Fiction of Eighteenth Century Vietnam” and blogs about the environment and the world at InconvenientNews.net.