Flamboyant editorials, anti-American films, commercial war song: China is trying to stir up the patriotism of its people in the context of all-out attacks by the United States and the deterioration of bilateral ties.

The trade dispute, so far measured, has shifted to open verbal clash since the Trump administration last week placed telecom giant Huawei on a list of companies suspected of spying on behalf of Beijing.

This decision bans the sale of American technologies to this Chinese industrial flagship, threatening its survival. Trade negotiations, they have not resumed between the two powers, which always clash with punitive tariffs.

A comment published by the official news agency China New again denounced Washington's "capricious nature" on Friday and promised that Beijing was determined to fight with the fighting spirit of the "Long March" (1934-1936).

He echoes the words of President Xi Jinping, who spoke this week, without explicitly mentioning Huawei or the trade war, this heroic journey that allowed the Communists, at the cost of countless deaths, to escape the nationalists during the war Chinese civil society.

China and the United States will "go through a long period of irrational conflict," said Zhang Yansheng, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), a semi-official think tank.

War movies

"During this process, step by step, (...) they will come to understand each other, to face each other, and (finally) to cooperate," he said Wednesday during a meeting with the press organized in Beijing by the government.

Another comment from New China had described the Trump administration as "selfish and arrogant" the day before.

"The United States is violating international rules, renouncing cooperation agreements and fighting back with their + America + first, their privileges and their concept of American exceptionalism," she denounced.

Since Trump raised duties on Chinese products worth some $ 200 billion in annual imports in mid-May, the People's Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published a column titled " alarm bell".

She works to dismantle the arguments of the White House tenant that China's economic and technological development threatens America.

The public television joined the movement: for six consecutive days (from May 16 to 21), CCTV broadcast in prime time on its film channel films on the Korean War with the obvious desire to excite the feeling patriotic.

Because this first conflict (1950-1953) of the Cold War had opposed North Korea (supported by China) to that of the South (supported by the United States): Chinese soldiers had thus found themselves face-to-face direct with the US Army.

"In danger"

A song titled "The Commercial War" and calling for "put down the troublemaker", has also become viral this week on the Chinese internet.

Written by a politician at the retreat, on the music of a patriotic film on the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945), however, she saw her video clip removed from social networks because violating the rules on online content .

"As in the film, the Chinese nation is now in danger," said Zhao Liangtian, the author of the lyrics.

A man walks by a bench decorated with an American flag in front of a shop in Beijing on May 15, 2019 Photo Credit : AFP | Archives | FRED DUFOUR

"With this song, I wanted to make people realize that we must be united and united to fight this battle."

In China, most netizens stand behind Huawei after Washington's threats against the company, an American campaign widely seen as a move to hinder the Asian giant's technological development.

A very small minority of Chinese called on the internet to "boycott iPhones". But they were often belittled by others, judging that the boycott is a false good idea, in a country where products made in the US are plebiscite.

Including by the founder of Huawei. Eager to avoid any escalation, Ren Zhengfei has called this week to continue buying American, confessing ... that his family itself is very fond of Apple products.