Younger Americans are friendlier to China

nekandro@lemmy.ml to World News@lemmy.world – 113 points –
Younger Americans are friendlier to China
economist.com
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I think there is more nuance here. In all my direct interactions with Chinese people in business they have been polite, responsive and intelligent. I still get messages from them long after I left the industry I was in.

The CCP however is a different story. I am opposed to them as much as I am opposed to any person or organization that seeks to usurp or silence an individuals right to self determination. There are certainly domestic threats to that right which are greater than the CCPs.

China and the CPC are as intertwined as America and the Democratic Party or America and the Republican Party. The China of today would not exist without the CPC.

America would exist without either party. People forget that the meaning of each party has shifted throughout the years. Parties have even gone extinct when a viable third party alternative was available. But they aren’t central to American life. More than one third of our population doesn’t even affiliate with a party.

The CCP has done everything in their power to make themselves central to Chinese life. But they are a party and not China itself, even they are replaceable. Taiwan is a good example of how democracy could work within a modern Chinese society. Which is why the CCP wants to bring them to heel.

The last third party to receive more than 20% of the vote was Teddy Roosevelt.

In 1912.

Tell me more about this "viable third party alternative."

Political parties in the US aren’t monolithic entities that never change or shift positions. Every 30 or 40 years they change and factions can switch sides. The southern strategy saw “Dixiecrats” become Republicans in the 70s and 80s.

Ross Perot won approximately 18 percent of the popular vote in 1992. Once again, parties shifted their policies and absorbed those voters.

I think we are overdue for another major shift and possibly a third party run. Many “Moderate” Republicans are Republicans in name only at this point. Their party has been co-opted by Racists, secessionists, MAGA, Qanon, Evangelicals and other fringe elements. (Whom they freely courted in the past and viewed as useful idiots to further their own goals.)

The business community, fiscal conservatives, NeoCons and moderates aren’t used to being out of power. They are organized and have money. Their goals overlap more than MAGAs. It’s only a matter of time before they realize they no longer control the Republican Party and may never control it again.

If Trump or MAGA acolytes stay in power after 2024 you will probably see a significant fracturing of the Republican Party.

The CPC isn't a monolithic entity either. While the leader of the party is the most powerful, actual change in the party happens from the bottom-up.

lol. Tell that to the autocrat that consolidated all the power.

Change doesn’t happen in that party unless Xi says so. Same with Russia and Putin.

What evidence is there that Xi consolidated all the power? Is it that he led an anti corruption campaign and has been in power for ten years? Is it that he isn’t directly elected by the people? Because by those standards Angela Merkel would also be a dictator.

I mean he changed the party constitution….

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/ways-chinas-xi-jinping-amassed-power-over-decade-2022-10-10/

A brief google assuming you have access to an unfiltered internet will give you tons of examples and more details. But Xi is the party now.

I mean just go read the CPC constitution. There are translations of it in English readily available.

As far as I can tell, the party constitution gets updated at every party congress and doesn’t afford Xi any special powers. He is included as an ideological leader in the party’s general program but that’s not unique to him. The same can be said for every CCP leader since the constitution was first adopted. Additionally, the constitution still clearly states that all party leadership is subject to oversight. It also lays out rights every party member has that no member of leadership is allowed to curtail. I don’t know how you could read this document and come away thinking it gives Xi total control over the party unless you’re already biased to interpret it that way.

One has to understand internal CCP politics through very imprecise measures, but one key thing to look at factional power within the CCP. Xi, by all accounts, has managed to suppress and marginalize all other factions within the party. This can be seen in the tangible result of his norm breaking additional term(s?) as leader of the party.

The CCP is a democratic centralist party. As such, factionalism has always been heavily discouraged. None of that is new.

Additionally the role of president, for which term limits were abolished, is not a particularly powerful one in China. The president serves at the behest of the national people’s congress standing committee and only has leeway to engage in foreign diplomacy. Xi likely has more influence over Chinese state affairs as general secretary of the CCP which never had term limits.

That said, it’s weird to see western media trying to read the tea leaves so they can write salacious stories about China’s palace intrigue when policy debates are happening out in the open. I’m willing to bet most western experts on China just don’t actually read any of the primary sources.

Oh sorry, you must have meant the Democratic Party where unelected party insiders (super delegates) chose Clinton to run against Trump despite Sanders polling better in the matchup.

Trump?

They are what trump wishes he could do, and thankfully, has so far been unable to.

The unable to is the difference bub.

What did Trump fail to achieve while in office?

Lol no. Xi has eliminated or purged every individual and has gutted every institution that could serve to oppose his reign that there is no one left who can make policy decisions on a national level.

Xi has also killed the messenger so many times that there is no one left who will bring him accurate information.

Bottom level bureaucrats are reduced to making decisions based on what they think Xi wants. The result has been a string of absolute failures wolf warrior diplomacy, the spy balloon, etc.

The CCP and China are what state failure looks like in its early stages.

What evidence is there for this beyond mere speculation? Most articles on Xi from the western press read more like gossip magazines than investigative journalism. They’re full of things like “body language experts” and other fluff but not much else.

The same is true for the “spy balloon” or “wolf warrior diplomacy”. While we don’t know what the balloon’s purpose was, the US has basically admitted that it wasn’t collecting any data. As for “wolf warrior diplomacy” it amounts to minor Chinese state officials being sassy on twitter. There’s no evidence that such behavior was state policy.

Concluding that China is bound to collapse based on this kind of flimsy evidence is so silly.

It's like you are being deliberately obtuse. Or maybe you really are just not very bright, I don't know.

18% of the vote! And yet, received zero electoral votes.

Hmm. How is that a "valid third-party"? Dude got no votes.

You asked for an example of a third party and I gave you a relatively recent one. Moving the goal posts after my response is just petty.

I also gave you the effects of third parties on American politics. It causes the two main parties to shift their stances or go extinct.

The occupy movements of the early teens didn't last, nor did it metamorphose into a third party. But it’s effect on politics was felt and galvanized Democrats to oppose austerity.

The lack of a third party doesn’t mean that other views aren’t adopted or incorporated into the two main parties. The lack of a third party is a symptom of our winner take all electoral system.

TLDR: The U.S. does not have a parliamentary system. Don’t expect its political parties to function the same as one.

American society drives the makeup of our parties not the other way around.

The CCP drives the makeup of Chinese society. The Average Chinese person has no voice and no way to influence change besides subtle protest of policy or outright revolution.

TikTok has been an extremely successful propaganda outlet

Previous generations will always be coping about later ones, no matter the year. Millenials and gen z are no different.

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.

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I don't honestly understand the "this group of people is the enemy thing."

You can thank Tik Tok that all the kids love and use daily. And China controls the content on it.

Maybe young people don't care about starting a new cold war after the last one went to shit 🤔.

Propaganda works.

It worked on you, that's for sure.

You would have a field day with the comment section for this article on Lemmy.ml lol. I'd love to see someone with more energy than me try to fight some of the idiocy going on over there.

One of my accounts got banned form .ml because I had the nerve to tell the kids from Hexbear that their meme replies were juvenile and cringy.

That sounds more like lemmygrad to me but wouldn't be surprised tbh. Not a single one of them on that instance is interested in facts or debate, just their little circlejerk. They'll hit puberty one day tho.

.ml has interesting discussion sometimes and other times just turns into a total circlejerk ime

Yeah, well… .ml lost an account that day. And I have no intention to interact with any communities in that instance. Blocked them.

Just got banned from .ml for providing links of China's wrongdoings lmaooo

Yeah… that windtunnel can fuck itself. It’ll be gone soon if they ban everyone that disagrees with them.

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Look at OPs post history, probably from a troll farm in either china or russia, or a brainwashed fucking moron. Tons of activity posting articles and comments supporting china/russia in the last few days, how pathetic are you that you gotta spread propaganda to such a small userbase like lemmy?

I hope they're paying you well you fucking loser. Fuck china and fuck russia.

Edit - I don't care about what the score of this comment is, but it's funny watching it fluctuate so much. Clearly I've pissed off the tankies and orcs lmao job well done.

Damn it's rare to see someone care enough about the comment's score to edit it.

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Two questions come to mind: will this demo get out and vote? And if they do who can they vote for that will make policy decisions in line with this viewpoint?

Recent polling from The Economist and YouGov shows the startling difference in Americans’ views of China by age group. Roughly 25% of Americans aged 18 to 44 said they view China as an enemy, compared with about 52% of those 45 and over (see chart). Almost as many young Americans said they view China as “friendly” as those who said the country was an “enemy”. Just 4% of older Americans see China as friendly.

Meanwhile, views of China among partisans are shifting. Republicans have long been more likely than Democrats to view China as an adversary. But both parties have become more hawkish. When Donald Trump took office in 2017, just 10% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans said they believed China to be an enemy. As of last week, 34% of Democrats and 48% of Republicans took this view.

The wording on this is kinda weird, enemy to who?

Do I think China is an enemy of the US? Yes.

Do I think they're an enemy to me personally and my values? Ehhh... not really. They do stuff I like and stuff I don't like.

This just in: Kids today aren't yet full of hate.

Kids in general are less aware.

FIFY

This is also what previous generations said about you btw

Yeah, because I was. Curiously enough, I don't even need to look at history to condemn what the CCP is doing today.

Doing today, hmm? Like how the evil CPC made China's CO2 emmissions plateu just last month and are targeting zero emissions by 2060? Or how they're spearheading cleaner energy this month with the first 4th gen nuclear reactor.

Also them boosting trans rights with a court ruling just last week, and currently installing a new regulation to limit exploitative practices through video games.

How could the CCP do this

Oh, they finally did something about pollution after being one of the top polluters and doing the minimal effort for the past decades to the point that they had people not being able to go outside from all the smog clouds? Props to them for now setting 2060 as the goal when we've already surpassed the major climate change tipping points then, despite the fact that they were asked to correct themselves long ago and refused, opting instead for an empty promise way behind schedule to avoid being held accountable for one of the most impactful issues on the table. That'll do it. And that they're considering human rights after they tried to hide their concentration camps from international media where they perpetuated genocide, reeducation and slavery? Weird that they're now promoting nuclear energy after they created a big scathing shit show about Japan's treated nuclear waste water to manipulate the market while dumping out a lot of their own even more radioactive waste. Wow, they sure changed a lot in the last 5 minutes. Incredible. Next time you'll tell me that Hitler did a lot of job creation with those gas chambers, huh.

But maybe they should do something about their predatory lending to smaller nations. Or stop trying to actively erase a historical massacre to portray a more favorable image. Maybe stop quietly arresting protesters to silence dissent, because they sure as hell won't consider freedom of press in their wildest dreams. And maybe reconsider their widespread intellectual property theft while they're at it. They could consider simply not pouring gasoline on the fire of international conflict for an invasion of a territory that has operated independently just fine to date, for that to create more bloodshed and another international crisis even though they've been overly aggressive lately with everyone else. But one can dream.

So much western propaganda here and articles with deliberately missing context lmao.

First off, of course an industrializing nation has to emit pollution, specially one with a 1.5 billion population; every industrialized country has, and Africa will too as it industrializes in the future. The point is China is actually doing something about it now, unlike the west.

China and Africa shouldn't have to suffer by not industrializing, just because western countries can't manage their pollution even after doing so.

Their vocational facilities and re-education centers are a far better way of managing and de-radicalizing extremist groups like the ETIM in Xinjiang than fucking bombing them, invading them, and lying about WMDs.

50+ mostly muslim UN states have approved of how China handled this after sending delegates and diplomats to Xinjiang:

...separatism and religious extremism has caused enormous damage to people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, which has seriously infringed upon human rights, including right to life, health and development. Faced with the grave challenge of terrorism and extremism, China has undertaken a series of counter-terrorism and deradicalization measures in Xinjiang, including setting up vocational education and training centers. Now safety and security has returned to Xinjiang and the fundamental human rights of people of all ethnic groups there are safeguarded. The past three consecutive years has seen not a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang and people there enjoy a stronger sense of happiness, fulfillment and security. We note with appreciation that human rights are respected and protected in China in the process of counter-terrorism and deradicalization.

We appreciate China’s commitment to openness and transparency. China has invited a number of diplomats, international organizations officials and journalist to Xinjiang to witness the progress of the human rights cause and the outcomes of counter-terrorism and deradicalization there. What they saw and heard in Xinjiang completely contradicted what was reported in the media. We call on relevant countries to refrain from employing unfounded charges against China based on unconfirmed information before they visit Xinjiang.

The only countries accusing China of mishandling this are its geopolitical rivals in the west. Muslim countries and the global south side with China on this.

Also, their supposed "debt-trapping" of nations is just a flat-out lie lmao, likely stemming from the actual debt-trapping that the IMF and World Bank from the west do. China hasn't seized a single asset from a country that's defaulted on its debt in the 10 years the BRI has been in progress, even forgiving billions of dollars of debt sometimes.

Of course, not every project has been a success. When you're working on thousands of foreign infrastructure projects (over 3000 so far) some of them are bound to be massive failures. Railways and bridges for example are often not directly profitable, neither in China nor elsewhere.

won’t consider freedom of press

Ah RSF, one of the many anti-China "non-profit" organizations that receives significant funding from the NED, an offshoot of the CIA, and various other imperialist organizations. I'd take any of their claims with a huge grain of salt, specially ones about the west's geopolitical rivals.

their widespread intellectual property theft

Intellectual property shouldn't exist in the first place; they only do so megacorporations can patent everything and keep others down. I applaud them for ignoring those; Africa should do the same as it industrializes, the same way the US also blatantly violated intellectual property laws as it was industrializing.

a territory that has operated independently just fine

Aside from the fact that modern Taiwan came to exist by completely genociding all its natives just 40 years ago (think Israel but if they actually managed to kill all Palestinians), I wouldn't call hosting military from the most war-mongering nation on its geopolitical rival's borders, and having a US puppet government "just fine".

What say you about the reeducation camps and social credit score and restriction of travel? What say you about the imprisonment of Xi's political opponents? My heart goes out to the Chines people, but the Chinese state must go.

Open your eyes.

Gotta love the pictures this "articles" come with - see these three bitches in the photo? best friends of China.

Maybe young people just don't fall for the propaganda peddled by western media and their friends in US government departnents

maybe they fall for the propaganda peddled by eastern media and their dictator friends.

They never see any of that, nor do you. All news is filtered through the big western agencies, AP/Reuters/AFP, to ensure that only the approved narrative is reported.

You really have a lot of faith in the organising capacity of all collective western governments when they can’t even agree on some pretty basic stuff.

It’s not that corporate news in the western world has to be well organized to put out the same perspective. Rather, they operate under the same kinds of selective pressures and as such they develop similar biases.

A good example is all the reporting on WMDs in Iraq that went unquestioned by much of the western press until well after it mattered. Unfortunately nothing has really changed since the invasion of Iraq.

And yet, there was a considerable portion of the western press that very much did question the WMD narrative, most notably in the US, Gannet, which still owns more newspapers than any other publisher in North America.

I had recently finished up an undergrad degree in journalism at the time and it was very obvious to anyone who was paying attention that people were selectively consuming whatever news told them what they wanted to hear. A huge portion of the country went bat shit crazy after 9/11 and had no interest whatsoever in listening to anyone who urged caution. At the time I worked for a local paper in California's Central Valley and we were basically called traitors every time we questioned the narrative at all.

Incorrect, I have no faith in the US government or the governments of any of its poodles.

And yet somehow you found room to believe that they are able to secretly control the major wire services. In a thread full of deeply stupid ideas, this one is probably the stupidest of all.

I'm sorry, there's just no way to be polite about it.

Go talk about Tiananmen Square in China and get back to us about countries and approved agencies.

And consider, any event or topic you whatabout for the West will be a far lower severity since we can actually talk about it with repercussion, and do research on it

Counter theory; young people are falling for eastern propaganda via CPC monitored and controlled apps/content serving algos.