Aside from quibbles over whether interruptions were due to satellite delay or poor manners, many in China agree the exchange was productive for both sides.
A much-anticipated trade war debate between anchors from Fox News and China Global Television Network, or CGTN, may not have aired live in China, but that doesn’t mean it went unnoticed in the country.
At around 8:30 Thursday morning China time, Trish Regan, who hosts a primetime show on the Fox Business News channel, and Liu Xin, host of The Point with Liu Xin on CGTN, squared off in a live debate on issues surrounding the protracted trade war between the two countries. During their 15-minute discussion, the two newswomen touched on tariffs, intellectual property, capitalism, China’s status as a developing nation, and the tenuous trade talks themselves.
The live broadcast was the culmination of sharp, then tempered tweets exchanged between the two women. Regan had invited Liu to have a “meaningful debate” on her program, an offer Liu accepted. Earlier this month, Regan had accused Beijing of “stealing $600 billion in intellectual property from us every year,” prompting a rebuttal from Liu on her own show that Regan’s words were “supported with little substance.”
On Thursday morning, China Central Television — the domestic counterpart to the globally oriented CGTN — posted transcripts and a few clips of the debate. Though CGTN initially said it would air the debate live for Chinese audiences, the network was only allowed to temporarily post short segments of the broadcast due to “copyright reasons.”
On microblog platform Weibo, several hashtags about the debate have appeared among the site’s top-trending topics since Thursday morning. Continue to read the full story here.
–This article first appeared on Sixth Tone.
