Beijing/New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): The diplomatic fallout over US President Donald Trump’s social media activity intensified on Friday, April 24, 2026, as China joined India in condemning the use of derogatory language to describe sovereign nations. Yu Jing, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, issued a sharp rebuke on social media, stating that “bilateral ties are built on respect, not rhetoric.” The statement, which asserted that “viral words fade” while “real partnerships don’t,” marks a rare moment of rhetorical alignment between Beijing and New Delhi against a common diplomatic slight from Washington.
The controversy originated from a repost on President Trump’s Truth Social platform, which amplified a critique of US immigration and birthright citizenship policies. The content, originally from radio host Michael Savage, labeled India and China as “hellholes” and suggested that migrants from these nations exploit American legal loopholes. The repost also contained disparaging remarks about high-tech immigrants, referring to them as “gangsters with laptops.” While the US Embassy in New Delhi has attempted to perform damage control by citing Trump’s previous praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the clarification has done little to soothe the friction caused by the initial characterization.
India had already set a firm tone on Thursday, with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissing the remarks as “uninformed, inappropriate, and in poor taste.” New Delhi maintained that such language is inconsistent with the spirit of the India-US relationship, which is anchored in shared strategic interests. With Beijing now officially weighing in, the episode has evolved into a broader international incident, highlighting the sensitivities of major global powers toward xenophobic rhetoric in the context of domestic American political debates.
