JD Vance’s arrogance displays racism

Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government

The United States hierarchy is downright racist! How dare vice-president JD Vance call the Chinese people “peasants” in such a derogatory tone?

The arrogance of Vance emerged when he started accusing Haitian refugees of stealing and eating pets in Springfield in September last year. This was widely disputed. Then, he was involved in a very public slinging match with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House in front of the world’s media on March 1. He demanded that Zelensky should be thankful for the help the US has given Ukraine. Zelensky said he had, many times.

The Vance outburst against the Chinese erupted during a Fox & Friends TV interview when he was speaking in support of Trump’s tariff measures. Vance said, "We borrow money from the Chinese peasants to buy things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”

How rude and disrespectful he is of the US’s largest trading partner. Although married to an Indian woman, his racism is reflected through his arrogance. Vance and his cronies in the White House are politicians, not bureaucrats. They go for sound bites and media exposure to boost their image.

He is an embarrassment to the American public, with practically all mainstream media denouncing his comments. He is, after all, the Vice President of the United States of America, a position that commands respect.

His comments are reverberating around the world and illustrate just how arrogant US officials, from the president down, are. This is how they teach their followers to disrespect their foreign neighbors.

There are about 48 million Chinese residing in the US, a country already shrouded in racial discrimination. Comments of degradation from Vance will not help social discord within the country, and only an apology from Vance or the president can help alleviate the fear of abuse.

The popular US news website BuzzFeed published a report titled "People are calling out JD Vance for his offensive comment about the US borrowing money from 'Chinese peasants,' and it's shocking even for him," stating in a now-viral clip that Vance discussed the Trump administration's foreign trade policies with China by directly insulting Chinese people.

The report commented, "If there's one thing Vice President JD Vance is going to do, it's to embarrass Americans everywhere."

Fox News reported that when asked about Vance’s comments on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, "To hear words that lack knowledge and respect like those uttered by this vice president is both surprising and kind of lamentable.”

Lin said Vance’s comments produced reactions from the public in China, who were outraged by Vance's actions, and added that Vance’s statements obviously had a certain dose of hatred and arrogance, according to South Africa’s Financial World. In addition to China, many countries around the world are disappointed by the behavior of the US vice president, said the paper.

It added that most of the Chinese population emphasizes that Vance should be banned from visiting the country. “After such statements, it is certain that the US vice president is an undesirable figure among the Chinese population. Whether he will retract such statements or explain what he meant remains to be seen.”

The Chinese people are a hard-working lot and have been recognized worldwide for their ability to produce first-class goods and services at a reasonable price. It is difficult for the West to understand the Chinese work culture, which is steeped in tradition and innovation. The work-life balance varies, but dedication is common. Harmony and teamwork are prized, with a deep respect for authority. Building relationships (Guanxi) is crucial for success, and diligence is a hallmark.

This is something that Vance and his cronies fail to understand. They are not peasants!
Vance’s outburst came when trying, unsuccessfully, to explain Trump’s international tariff penalties, which in China’s case can reach 104 percent on all China goods imported into the US.

China’s total exports last year reached US$3.575 trillion worth of goods around the world. Some 14.7 percent of that went to the US ($524.9 billion), and 8.1 percent went to Hong Kong (second place) with a value of $291.4 billion. China’s imports from the US last year had dropped to $143.54 billion.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

Hong Kong is facing a dilemma as more locals are spending their dollars outside of the city than what the visitors are bringing in.

Relaxed visa/permit restrictions for locals and foreign residents alike is making it easier for travel to the mainland while inbound traffic crossing the boundary is low budget and spending less on accommodation and food.

Tourism is an important pillar for Hong Kong’s economy. In pre-COVID times, tourism accounted for about four per cent of the territory’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided for about six per cent of total employment.

In Hong Kong’s heydays, the city saw about 65 million tourists in 2018, of which 51 million came from the mainland. It was boom time for retailers and restaurants. Long queues of mainland shoppers would line the streets along Canton Road and elsewhere waiting to buy luxury items from Gucci, Prada, Tiffany’s and other high-end stores which set up shop in Hong Kong to tap this lucrative market.

Today many restaurants and retail outlets are closing down, especially in the boundary towns of Sheung Shui and Yuen Long. The market is no longer there, and high rental costs make it almost impossible to survive.

During the 2025/2026 festive season, Hong Kong saw a 25.6 per cent rise in inbound trips on New Year’s Day 2026 (664,338 trips), but this was still countered by a massive 515,954 outbound exits on the same day.

Winston Yeung, chair of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades, told local media that business was sluggish during the Christmas holiday, with some restaurant owners calling it “the slowest business at Christmas over the past 10 years.”

Unfortunately, the local market is not propping up the tourism outlets. Instead, the locals are traveling in large numbers to Shenzhen and Macau and other parts of China for day trips or extended holidays, thereby providing a leakage in the local economy.

While Hong Kong received more than an estimated 45 million visitors last year, more than about 100 million departures were recorded by the Immigration Department of locals leaving Hong Kong by plane, train or bus mainly to the mainland (75 per cent), and to other major Asian destinations.

Hong Kong has 320 hotels offering 92,907 rooms, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Despite mainlanders’ choice of more budget accommodation, occupancy rates for the hotel industry remained high at 88 per cent last year. The major hotels are not affected by the change in mainlanders’ preferences as they rely more on the affluent international tourist, visiting Hong Kong for business, conventions or holidays.

Property developer, Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) says Hong Kong’s hospitality market currently presents various investment-ready assets including rare investment opportunities for upper upscale and luxury hotels. These high-end properties are particularly attractive due to their resilience, as they are less reliant on Chinese group travelers and enjoy sustained spending power among affluent individual travelers and international visitors. This makes them attractive for investors seeking stable returns in a dynamic market.

To encourage locals to spend more at home and at the same time provide a bonus for tourists, Hong Kong has organised a series of mega events, many held in the new sports stadium on the site of the old Kai Tak airport in Kowloon. Traditional events in 2026 will include the French May Arts festival in March, Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Hong Kong performing Arts Expo in October, the World Snooker Grand Prix in February, and, of course, the international dragon boat races in June.

Blockbusters will include BlackPink World tour in January, the Hong Kong marathon, which draws in runners and their supports from around the world, and the Hong Kong Tennis Open also in January.

That is good for the inbound and outbound tourists alike. But more needs to be done to tip the tourism scales to a surplus for Hong Kong’s economy to grow at a faster pace. As the saying goes charity starts at home, so it is up to us as local residents who have reaped the benefits of the city to spend more in local restaurants and retail outlets than spend it elsewhere. Support local enterprises. After all, the restaurants in Hong Kong are ranked among the best in the world and are tax free as against a value-added tax applied to restaurants and shops in the mainland.