The Chinese state-run propaganda outlet Global Times berated Americans on Tuesday for alleged “finger-pointing” and a lack of “unity” in the face of the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires, condemning reasonable criticisms regarding California’s lack of preparation to handle the destruction.
California has been experiencing what could ultimately become the most destructive fire catastrophe in its history for the past week, a sprawling complex of several fires that have burned down entire residential communities. As of Tuesday, authorities have documented 24 deaths in the fires and 60 square miles burned. The local government has evacuated nearly 100,000 people and over 12,000 buildings have been destroyed entirely. It is unclear at press time when the fires began, but the embers became an all-consuming inferno on January 7 and has continued expanding through multiple neighborhoods in the greater Los Angeles area. The fire is being exacerbated by the hurricane-force Santa Ana winds sweeping through the area.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are facing nationwide condemnation for the handling of the fires. Among a growing list of concerning circumstances documented are Bass’s decision to cut the firefighting budget by nearly $20 million, firefighters reporting fire hydrants not having enough water to contain the fires, the massive Santa Ynez Reservoir being left empty for an undetermined amount of time, and the lack of preemptive deployment of resources in anticipation of heavy winds and dry weather potentially fueling such a fire. Bass herself was in Ghana for the inauguration of inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama when the fire began, raising questions about her focus on the city.
The Global Times condemned Americans for addressing any of these issues, claiming that identifying problems with disaster response was not allowing the country to “transcend divisions.”
“Since 1983, the US National Interagency Fire Center has documented an average of approximately 70,000 wildfires per year within the country,” the propaganda newspaper observed. “This staggering figure should, in theory, lead to a well-organized and smoothly functioning firefighting system. Yet, when wildfires occur in the US, chaotic scenes continue to unfold.”
“Americans are suffering because the country has lost the ability to unite and transcend divisions in times of crisis,” the Times asserted. “Both parties are engaged in finger-pointing.”
“The Republican side labels California leaders as ‘incompetent,’ and blames DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives, as well as female firefighters of color and lesbian firefighters,” it claimed. “Meanwhile, the Democratic Party blames climate change and pushes back against the Republican attempt to ‘politicize’ the fires.”
“Yet, there is little effective discussion on how to resolve this ongoing crisis, what feasible solutions are available,” the outlet continued, “or how the government will strengthen its ability to prevent and respond to natural disasters in the future. They fight each other amid the chaos of the fire, and in every other challenge they face nowadays.”
“A society that should be uniting in the face of this crisis is instead being torn apart by constant blame and shifting responsibility, even as the fires continue to rage,” it concluded. “As a result, some observers argue that the California wildfires were not just a natural disaster, but rather a man-made catastrophe.”
Contrary to the newspaper article’s conclusion, experts have not definitively concluded that the fires are a “natural disaster.” Early reports indicated that New Year’s Eve fireworks may have triggered the initial flames that were left unattended for days, causing the major disaster. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the fire was likely to have “human sources,” citing anonymous sources.
The Global Times itself reported this a day before its diatribe on “unity,” citing a California professor.
“John Abatzoglou, a professor of Climatology at the University of California, told the Global Times on Monday via email that … the specific causes for this year’s wildfires ‘are still unknown right now, but are all human-caused fires,’” the state newspaper relayed.
That article went on to blame California officials’ “local weak disaster relief efforts” for the scale of destruction in the fires – printing the criticism the newspaper itself condemned in another article when offered by Americans.
The Global Times‘s distaste for criticism of California politicians follows years of attempts to get close to the state’s top Democrats, with significant success under Newsom. Newsom has used his time in power to strengthen business and political ties to the Communist Party, most prominently during a visit to the country in October 2023. Meeting with genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, Newsom promised that California would serve as China’s “long-term, stable and strong partner.”
“Newsom said he is willing to push California to strengthen exchanges with China and seek closer cooperation in fields such as climate change and new energy,” Chinese state media reported at the time.
In addition to meetings with political leaders, Newsom toured a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) factory and test drove a model by the slavery-linked company BYD, which he celebrated as “another leap in technology, the next-level leap” and claimed to want two cars for himself.
Newsom is facing significant condemnation for appearing unprepared for the fire situation in the southern part of his state, facing public heckling and serious questions from journalists on why firefighters appeared to run out of water. Asked by CNN journalist Anderson Cooper on January 8 about the fire hydrants being found without water, Newsom said, “the local folks are trying to figure that out” and condemned President-elect Donald Trump for working to “politicize” the fire.
Two days later, Newsom announced an investigation into “the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.”
The Santa Ynez Reservoir could have held 117 million gallons of water, but was empty when the fires began and continues to be so. It is unclear why Los Angeles officials left the reservoir empty, or for how long that has been the situation.
Los Angeles firefighters have publicly condemned their politicians for failing to keep their services prepared as the fires raged. Freddie Escobar, the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles County (UFLAC), told Breitbart News on Monday that the neglect has existed for a long time.
“I’ve been on the board [of the Los Angeles Fire Department] for 17 years, and for years now, for decades, the LAFD has been neglected by its leaders,” he said. “They have not addressed a woefully understaffed fire department. We need 62 new stations; 100 more firefighters and medics, more engines, trucks, medics. We are woefully understaffed.”
