How The Pursuit of Combatting Western Propaganda Has Turned Into Genocide Denial

In recent years, it has become commonplace in the US to criticize the CCP for its various human rights violations and economic policies, and this condemnation of China has infiltrated most areas of the US – nearly 73% of U.S. adults say they have an unfavorable view of China. Major politicians have heavily attacked China (although mostly verbally) for reasons ranging from concentration camps in Xinjiang to ‘taking US jobs’ to shamelessly blaming Asian people for the coronavirus. Former President Trump, although claiming to be strict on China in terms of trade policy, admitted to not punishing the CCP over concentration camps in Xinjiang in order to not jeopardize any trade deals. Despite this effort, Trump’s trade war actually worsened the US economy and did little to hurt China. Although Trump has been particularly weak on Beijing, President-elect Biden’s actions represent little more than merely condemning Chinese concentration camps and promising to be ‘harder on China than Trump’. Both parties’ inaction to fully address the situation in China in addition to the failure of prominent US politicians to distinguish between the Chinese state itself and innocent Chinese people has led to an increase in anti-Asian sentiment and hate crimes. A recent example would be Asians being beaten, attacked, and even set on fire because of the blame put on Chinese (and broadly Asian) people for the coronavirus. A more general way that anti-Asian sentiment has also been spreading is the blaming of Asian people for the actions of their government, but this view is less obvious and usually less violent.

While examining the reasons China has been condemned recently, it is evident that some of them are legitimate and others are not. As many have noted, the unjustified criticisms of China have been a result of anti-Asian propaganda being perpetuated by the west, composed of modern day political cartoon era-esque anti-Asian articles, speeches, writing, books, television, etc. (many of which are created by right leaning sources). Sometimes the message is very apparent, but usually, through the use of dog-whistles and more ambiguous wording, anti-Asian sentiment is hidden and thus more effective. Being taught to believe that Chinese people are the enemy of American people, being taught to believe that Chinese people will overtake the American people, and being taught to question why Chinese people cannot control the actions of their government creates an environment where obvious anti-Asian sentiment can develop without question, which is ironic considering the situation at the American border or the rampant institutional racism found in US court systems. However, it is important to note that some reasons for criticizing China are very justified.

Uyghur Detainment in Xinjiang

In Xinjiang, up to two million Uyghurs and Kazakhs are being detained, and there are countless accounts and videos detailing the torture and conditions in the camps. This has been happening since 2017.

Uyghurs are a majority Muslim population living in East Turkestan (Xinjiang in China). They declared independence in 1949 but were absorbed by China quickly after. Since the 90’s, Uyghurs have called for independence, and beginning in 2014, China began a systemic effort to lower the Uyghur population. In 2014, mosques and graveyards began to disappear, and in 2016 China pushed millions of dollars into a birth control surgery program and cash incentives for women to get sterilized in East Turkestan. Finally, in 2017, Uyghurs were forced into concentration camps for alleged religious extremism. During all of these efforts, China was and still is encouraging mass Han Chinese migration and intermarriage into East Turkestan. Apart from efforts to decrease the population, the CCP also has a surveillance database of Uyghur activities; Uyghurs can be detained for having too many children, illegal preaching, wearing a veil, having a beard, or even just being prone to being radicalized. These reasons often have no real basis and are created to detain innocent Uyghur people. When in the camps, Uyghurs are forcibly taught Mandarin, shown propaganda, forced to confess to ‘crimes’, tortured, and abused. They are potentially being forced to do labor within the camps as well. Uyghur children are placed away from their parents in surveilled orphanages. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur women have been forced into pregnancy checks, intrauterine devices, sterilization and abortion. According to the Associated Press, “In 2014, just over 200,000 IUDs were inserted in Xinjiang. By 2018, that jumped more than 60 percent to nearly 330,000 IUDs. At the same time, IUD use tumbled elsewhere in China, as many women began getting the devices removed… Birth rates in the mostly Uyghur regions of Hotan and Kashgar plunged by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, the latest year available in government statistics”.

The Belt and Road Initiative

The CCP is also implementing economic policies that promise great wealth for many developing countries but may be silencing their true concerns, all under the guise of a new infrastructural project called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China is currently building projects like railroads, highways, pipelines, and waterways in different developing countries. The BRI has received praise for its ambition and possibly being able to assist some of the poorer countries China works with, but it has also received criticisms for being a debt-trap. This may be because construction contracts for BRI projects in other countries will be awarded to mostly Chinese firms, which may create a situation where the Chinese companies receive the profits and the country where the project takes place will receive the debt for the construction project. Some worry that this will lead to a situation where China will repossess the project if the return is not great enough, and in turn, the project becomes a debt-trap. Wharton management professor Minyuan Zhao says that “China is hoping that by coordinating all these projects – by connecting all the railways, connecting the waterways with the railways — every single project will generate more return in the aggregate… China’s state sponsorship of BRI makes sense… With state sponsorship, you create enough externality to make every single investment, which would otherwise be un-investible, a good project.” The Belt and Road Initiative is currently in its second phase, and some of the countries involved have expressed grievances already, like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Zambia, and Pakistan. China had to renegotiate contracts with Malaysia after Malaysia denied a $16 billion railroad contract, in turn receiving a lower cost of $11 billion. In late 2017, Sri Lanka had to return its Hambantota port on a 99 year lease as it could not service debts over $8 billion owed to Chinese firms. In Africa, Djibouti faces a debt equivalent to 88% of its GDP to Chinese firms as well. As for overall cost with more than 60 countries having signed onto the project, the BRI is estimated to cost $60 billion and $1.2-1.3 trillion by 2027 (these estimates vary).

The Chinese government is actively exploiting Asian and African people, both inside and outside of China. There is no good justification for its actions. Attempting to rationalize the CCP’s efforts is not going against anti-Asian influences and western propaganda; it is justifying genocide and exploitation.

Examples of Genocide Denial

Actively questioning the information being consumed and its effect on one’s views is undeniably important and encouraged. However, when efforts to try to counteract western propaganda involves spreading Asian propaganda, the entire purpose is defeated. Those who defend the Chinese state, even in an attempt to eliminate anti-Asian sentiment, have failed Asian people and have denied the rampant exploitation and abuses of the CCP. These people are quick to point out valid criticisms of Asian countries (not limited to China) and label them as western propaganda perpetuated by countries like the US to demonize these states, acting as if they are the saviors of these countries. A recent example of this type of behavior can be seen throughout different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. A new source has been spreading around: xinjiang.carrd.co – that lists links to try to prove that the Uyghur genocide is not real. Its description claims that the source is ‘debunking CIA propaganda,’ when there have been multiple instances of video footage of actual Uyghurs being detained and tortured. Some of the links have a few valid points, but this is overshadowed by the blatant disregard for actual Uyghur experiences. The first link is an article by Cameron Orr, which makes valid points about US imperialism and economic exploitation caused by the US, but then does not apply the same imperialist logic to the Chinese state. The second link is from a news channel owned by China Central Television, a state-owned broadcaster. The third link listed is about how information was collected in order to create an estimate of detainees, and the fourth link is made of laughably dishonest interviews about Muslims being prone to religious extremism. There are a total of 10 links, and many of them are either from untrustworthy or biased sites like Chinese government run news channels, or are composed of inconsistent information.

A Final Word

There are valid reasons to combat the anti-Asian sentiment that can be seen in the media in western countries. It’s important to understand that western countries like the US are by no means perfect and oftentimes commit the same kinds of atrocities that China commits. Defending Asian countries like China is the same as defending countries like the US, and can usually both be attributed to bias or a lack of information. The extent of the Uyghur genocide may be exaggerated in some sources, but it is still happening regardless. The Belt and Road Initiative is not just economics, infrastructure, or trade – it is a project that will possibly hinder many Asian and African countries’ abilities to develop and thus the health and livelihood of their people. The BRI may be directly negatively impacting other Asian countries apart from China, yet defenders of China fail to recognize this. This vehement overreaction to the genuine concerns of the Asian community does not address these issues and instead allows them to grow further.

The biggest irony of people who try to defend Asian countries in an effort to diminish western propaganda and anti-Asian sentiment is that they are actually acting against the very marginalized people of Asia they try to protect.