Younger Americans are friendlier to China

nekandro@lemmy.ml to World News@lemmy.world – 113 points –
Younger Americans are friendlier to China
economist.com
96

You are viewing a single comment

Here's the question, when we talk about China the country, are we talking about the Chinese people, or their government? Because I have very different answers for the two.

I've grown up with and worked with Chinese Americans, both from mainland China and Taiwan. I want to see them have freedom of speech and expression and ability to criticize the government, so I have to be adversarial to the CCP. I can't imagine liking Chinese people and the CCP simultaneously, knowing what the party does -- I want the latter reformed so the former can thrive.

I also think there's a lot of innovation for the human race as a whole if China and the US are rivals, not adversaries. Friendly competition leads to scientific advancements without compromising on joint research and efforts.

The thing is, you can’t really separate the Chinese people from the CCP. Something like 7% of the population are members and the party has very high approval ratings. That’s not just because the CCP are good propagandists either. Rather the living conditions for the average Chinese person have improved dramatically over the course of only a few decades thanks to policy decisions made by the CCP. As such, opposing the CCP and wanting the Chinese people to thrive may be seen as a highly contradictory perspective to people living in mainland China.

By that logic, it's the same for usa.

While I would agree that many in the US have strong feelings about their party affiliation, I don’t think it’s quite the same.

For one thing, by joining the CCP you are actually required to participate. I don’t know the numbers off hand, but I imagine far fewer people in the US actually participate in their local Democratic or Republican party clubs. Additionally, the approval ratings of democrats or republicans is lower than the CCP’s even if you only poll their respective party members.

I'm referring to people in both China and Taiwan, and the CCP is certainly bad for the latter. I want people in both countries to prosper.

I’m not convinced the CCP has to be bad news for the latter. The CCP has a very economistic mindset when it comes to dealing with internal strife within China. As such, I think they would potentially settle for an economic union with certain security guarantees which would allow Taiwan to remain politically independent.

That's racist and orientalist af. A people and their government are never equated. They're always separate things. That's literally sinophobia. Will you tell us that PRC citizens overseas are equal to their government as well, justifying their repression overseas?

Thankfully I never equated them.

You said they can't be separated. If they can't be separated, then functionally they're the same thing, hence you very much did equate them.

But I think maybe English is not your first language, so maybe you can be forgiven for using the language sloppily. If you know what I mean.

How is that racist at all? The comment wasn't making it out to be a negative thing, or saying that Chinese citizens were somehow wrong by supporting the CCP. I just fail to see how it is racist to point out the fact that the CCP has supporters in China. Seems obvious.

3 more...
3 more...