Hillary Clinton arrived in China on Tuesday, in what's likely to be her last trip there as Secretary of State, but that milestone didn't stop China's state-run media outlets from printing scathing editorials about her and the U.S.'s growing unpopularity in the country. "Many Chinese people do not like Hillary Clinton, her personal antipathy to the Chinese public ..." reads (via Google translation) an editorial in China's nationalist newspaper Global Times, entitled "Secretary Clinton: the person who deeply reinforces US-China mutual suspicion." The editorial goes on to read (via a translation from NBC News's Ed Flanagan), "She makes the Chinese public dislike and be wary of the United States, which does not necessarily serve U.S. foreign policy interests." Well, that's pretty blunt. What upsets the Chinese government has been President Obama's newfound focus on the Asia-Pacific region, which means more attention is paid toward China and its territorial disputes in the South China Sea. And Clinton, despite enjoying her highest popularity ratings stateside, has become the bullseye for unhappy Chinese nationalists even if she won't be continuing her role as the country's top diplomat--Clinton has said she was retiring at the end of this year. (We probably shouldn't tell them about the VP rumors.) Xinhua, the country's state-run news service was at least bit more diplomatic about being undiplomatic, with an editorial that read (via a New York Times translation), "The United States should stop its role as a sneaky troublemaker sitting behind some nations in the region and pulling strings." 

Despite the bitter and slightly personal editorials, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Clinton had a, what Reuters is reporting, "constructive tone" today during their public remarks. "China stands ready to work with the U.S. side, guided by the joint vision of our two presidents, to further push forward the China-U.S. cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit," Yang said, sounding for a moment not like one of the "many Chinese people" who don't like Hillary. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos