I know you are critiquing China here and I appreciate that as the story told in the CNN piece is horrifying, but it is a little crazy for me to read something like, "look, usually the Chinese government is not bad, but I admit this is wrong."
It is an extremely unfortunate byproduct of Trump's faux "tough on China" rhetoric that some on the left feel the need to defend the Chinese government or at least avoid the topic.
Are you willing to excuse their denial of freedom of speech and press to their citizens, in violation of international law?
Yes, plenty of US allies restrict free speech. It’s not a good thing, but this isn’t some uncommon trend.
Are you willing to excuse the hundreds to thousands who were shot in Tienanmen Square attempting to exercise speech?
That was in the 1980’s, when China was a far different nation from what it is now.
Have you forgotten that they are currently shredding the Sino-British Join Declaration by ending the two systems policy in Hong Kong almost three decades early?
That is iffy ground and it’s definitely not so clear cut. What I do find strange is that nobody mentions Macau which is under the same system. I guess the existence of a SAR operating within the framework peacefully is not exciting enough to report on...
Do you remember the prisoners of conscience, torture, and forced abortions and sterilizations in Tibet?
Yes, that is another example of genocide in China. I don’t endorse what China has been doing in trying to forcibly assimilate minority ethnic groups into the Han majority and I never will.
I don't agree with Cath's statement in the sense that we must blame China for everything/believe theories of wrongdoing without sufficient evidence, but what is true is that you cannot acknowledge the atrocities being committed in Xinjiang and pretend that the Chinese government is not a serial human rights abuser aside from that. What they are doing there is entirely consistent with actions they have taken elsewhere over decades.
Agreed entirely. I don’t believe China is okay outside of the Uyghur genocide, but I do believe that too often, Americans see China in black-and-white without understanding the culture, the politics, nor the context.