For the Left and many non-Western observers, it is often easy to dismiss American sources on China as American propaganda–and it often is, to a certain degree. Frequently designed to put the nation into a fighting stance against one of its greatest perceived geopolitical threats, the language can be comically obvious in its intention to make China appear more threatening than it really is. Regardless of how accurately they might describe episodes in the strategic game between China and the U.S., verbiage can border on unabashed hostility at times. Even in discussing China’s failure to adhere to climate goals, phrases like “grand deception” and “steals” emerge in articles written by U.S. Senators, and it is not uncommon to hear conspiracy theory-esque language about a Chinese “grand strategy to disrupt the American order.”
Yet, as obvious as it may seem to some, there is plenty of material in the opposite category as well. Search any controversial question for the CCP, and countless oddly-phrased articles published on outdated web pages will pop up to answer your questions (on occasion, even with the .cn domain). They purport to cite experts, but those experts somehow follow Chinese talking points to a tee.
Looking back to the spy balloon incident this past February, examples are easy to find. An article from the Global Times, a major newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, calls American accusations “imperialist deception,” while an article written in strange syntax from Taaza Khabar News, an organization with a suspiciously small digital footprint, holds no reservations about calling Americans out for their “dumbness” and repeatedly referring to their “stupidity.”
It is obvious that both sides utilize propaganda, but what isn’t obvious is when exactly something you read is propaganda, and when something can be taken as truth. Anecdotally, I have found that this can often result in people reasonably questioning one side, but being relatively lax on their skepticism of the other, which is especially evident in leftist sources which defend China despite their usual skepticism of Western sources such as PSL and Grayzone.
The archetype might be easy to picture when imagining a typical hawkish Republican, who seems to exhibit too much cynicism towards China for it not to be overtly racist. However, I find that some leftists can often jump to the other extreme and refuse to critically assess China with any bit of deserved suspicion.
The Left is generally the first to correctly call out the biases of American media. Yet, a segment of this population is also among the first to defend China, even to the point of absurd regurgitation of Chinese state media talking points, ostensibly in the name of rejecting propaganda. I believe that the majority has a more moderate attitude towards China—and as boring as it might be, I argue for joining this second group.
I do not claim to make any ground-breaking points or introduce paradigm-shifting ideas—only issue a reminder that American wrongdoings do not absolve China of those wrongdoings.
Most saliently, the Uyghur humanitarian crisis has had plenty of substantive evidence contradicting official statements made by CCP officials, including in the Chinese government’s own reports. Bryce Springfield highlighted in a previous issue that some officials previously published denials that any genocide was occuring in Xinjiang despite substantial evidence of the contrary, and even themselves later admitted to their existence but dubbed them “education camps.” Although progressives have increasingly come to a consensus that American imperialism as a hand-wavy refutation to this legitimate evidence is no longer enough, there remain a significant number of groups such as the aforementioned PSL and Grayzone who continue to defend China on this front.
Not to mention, via its Belt and Road initiative, China has extended its political reach by trapping developing countries into massive debt, in a move that seems at least mildly neocolonial in both execution and intention. At the same time, China has been exporting its coal plants to those same countries while flaunting its goal of phasing out fossil fuels domestically.
I suspect that the propensity for some leftists to instinctively defend China comes from an underlying belief that China represents a powerful, successful socialist alternative to Western capitalism. In this view, the annoying wasps who constantly buzz around, repeating the same worn-out talking points about communism never working in practice, should be silenced by a simple finger-pointing across the ocean to this red behemoth.
But—and this point has been made many times—China is not the socialist paradise most of the Left truly seeks. Recent investigation classifies it as Party-State Capitalism where the state’s survival is the main priority, but the underlying economic structure is just capitalistic with certain methods of government control, and even since 1980 the state propaganda around capitalist entrepreneurs has shifted to more positive. Not to mention the proportion of wealth owned by the government has substantially declined, the resulting economy mainly sees the state exercise power by regulating corporate governance, controlling financial instruments, and requiring political fealty from business leaders. If anything, this system sounds more a red version of capitalism than any communist utopia.
Here is a statement that is not very profound: it’s hard to understand China. More specifically, it is hard to ever know anything about China with certainty, or rid oneself of the nagging feeling that every piece of media on China is an amalgamation of propaganda designed to mislead consumers into supporting positions against their own interests.
That shouldn’t ring so many alarm bells—just like any other country, and any complex issue, there are countless groups with their own interests who would like you to believe their side of the story.
People tend to take very strong stances on China, but that often risks an uncritical acceptance of propaganda on either side. As obvious as it sounds, it is important to remember what China is: a massive, complex country with more than a billion people, and a relatively recent complete political upheaval which deserves just as much scrutiny as any other. Progressive stances on America take all this into account, but China is often not afforded this same nuance. Perhaps it should be.
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