u/nottomat - originally from r/GenZhou
“What about in Hong Kong where they made it so that the leaders are no longer publicly elected? What about Tiannenmen Square were hundreds of people were killed for protesting the Dengist regime? What about how China’s internet is blocked by a firewall meaning you cannot search for various things the government doesn’t want you to search for? What about how journalists punish foreign journalists by removing their press credentials when they say something critical of the government’s policies? What about when in 2019 the All China Journalists Association updated its code of ethics saying that they have to take an exam proving that they are guided by Xi Jinping thought”
How would you counter these statements?
u/Sihplak - originally from r/GenZhouHong Kong under British rule was never allowed any elections until it was useful as a political propaganda tool. With Hong Kong being properly returned to China, it is seeing far more democracy. This isn’t to say there would not be restrictions or limitations, but rather that to not contextualize them is farcical.
Let’s take a hypothetical situation where you are part of a people who successfully revolted against and overthrew a settler-colonialist government, and have decided to establish your own; would you allow the colonist-sympathizers to have a say in government or allow their parties? Fuck no, those were the people who maintained slave-conditions, who stole land from the natives, etc.
Hong Kong is not dissimilar, though its relations are more in the hyper-capitalist relations that the UK’s rule had allowed to be established. Working conditions, housing prices, etc have been terrible in Hong Kong, and it has acted as a haven for those guilty of financial crimes such as embezzlement, tax evasion, corruption, etc. China taking control of it makes it more democratic by taking political power away from those who would seek to establish totalitarian power relations.
People have VPNs in China and those who use VPNs encounter little to no issues. Further, most people do not understand why China has its “great Firewall”
There is plenty of internal critique within China, and China has allowed foreign journalists to ask tough questions (e.g. the BBC Xinjiang report). What isn’t allowed is thinly veiled if not completely open and insulting propaganda; journalists should be expected to ask questions to come to some conclusion, not fabricate a conclusion and twist evidence to fit it.
The claim seems to be based on this. Using automate google translate, I do not see any requirements to take any “exam” to prove “guidance by Xi Jinping thought”, but what is indicated is the guidance the CPC directs for journalists. In other words, they have a code of ethics for journalistic integrity, which, if reading the full set of policies, indicates that journalists are required to try to provide an unbiased position, to not exaggerate stories or to be sensationalist, to promote Socialism, and to focus on dialogue with the public. In a way, elements resemble elements of the “Mass Line”, and otherwise the updated policies seem largely non-controversial. If promotes encouraging the ideas and positions of the CPC, but in that regard most states have some manner to engender some form of national unity in their media. For all the superficial conflict between “Democrat” and “Republican” biased news sources in the U.S., they fundamentally comprise one broader hegemon of Capitalism and imperialism. In this regard, the U.S.'s media is often more manipulated and more difficult to parse than Chinese media might be since U.S. media actively obfuscates its constant conflicts of interests and ideological skew, whereas China is clear about it promoting a Socialist worldview.
In this regard, the bulk of any news media from any nation will promote the national line, and thereby, opposition, skepticism, support, or neutrality towards such sources is defined ideologically, not based on objectivity. One supports Fox News not because Fox News is some truth-telling, compelling, dissenting voice in the U.S., they support Fox News because of ideological alignment. One supports the NYT because they promote an American-centric biased view on global events. As such, Chinese news has its distinct outlook, and they are more transparent about it than Western news ever is. This, I think, is far more honest and trustworthy than Western news media.