Month: April 2023

The sudden arrival of a cold war with China

In the following article, which we are pleased to reprint from the Morning Star, Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London (2000-2008), denounces the new cold war that has been instigated against China, in which Britain has once again followed behind the United States. 

Outlining some of the hostile measures taken by the UK against China, Ken notes how recent ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss had been set to formally declare China to be an enemy of Britain while current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak describes the country as a “challenge to the world order.”

In contrast, Ken writes: “The rise of China is one of the greatest events in world history in my lifetime. When I was born, life expectancy in China was under 40. Around 90 per cent of the population was illiterate. The country had been torn apart by a century of foreign aggression, invasion, warlordism and civil wars. Millions died every year from floods and famine.

“What a contrast to today’s China, which is on the cusp of overtaking the US as the world’s greatest economy – a change unseen in over a century. China’s life expectancy has already overtaken that of the US… This economic transformation is one that all decent people should welcome.”

Ken compares the present policies towards China with the “golden era” declared by Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne as recently as 2015 and adds that when he was elected Mayor in 2000, “I was determined that London would develop positive relations with China.” He adds:

“We opened offices for London in Beijing and Shanghai, encouraged Stock Exchange listings, brought the annual celebration of Chinese New Year to Trafalgar Square, and expanded co-operation in a whole range of sectors, such as fashion, design and the creative industries.”

Whilst such positive policies were broadly supported by successive Labour leaders: “Sadly, they now find little or no echo from Keir Starmer and his shadow foreign secretary David Lammy. Their political horizons seem confined to attempting to outdo the Tories as to who can be the most bellicose cold warrior.”

This establishment consensus is leading us into dangerous waters, such as the Aukus nuclear submarine deal with Australia and the United States. Britain is vastly increasing military spending at a time when, “an increasing number of people aren’t being forced to choose between heating and eating because they can’t afford either.”

Ken concludes: “Progressives in the labour movement need to… build the broadest possible alliance to reverse the slide to disaster.”

AS SOMEONE who lived through the first cold war against the Soviet Union and its allies, and who was in some important respects politically shaped by it — including in terms of my decades-long opposition to nuclear weapons — I recognise all too well the depressing signs of a new cold war against China, being fomented by the US, Britain and a handful of other countries.

Here in Britain, we’ve seen:

● A thriving relationship with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei scuppered at US insistence, leaving 5G infrastructure to be ripped out of our networks, increasing costs to the Treasury and leaving us in the broadband slow lane.

● A ban on the massively popular TikTok app on government devices.

● Attacks and threats to close Confucius Institutes, which play an invaluable role in lessening our educational deficit in the teaching of Chinese language and culture.

● Sanctions and refusal of investment from Chinese companies on dubious national security grounds, costing us jobs, markets and technical upskilling.

● A ban on the Chinese ambassador setting foot in the Palace of Westminster, instigated by a vociferous gang of right-wingers like Iain Duncan Smith.

Not surprisingly, all this, along with the attempts to blame China for the Covid pandemic from Donald Trump and his allies internationally, has led to an upsurge in racist attacks on members of Chinese and Asian communities.

Continue reading The sudden arrival of a cold war with China

Chinese Ambassador visits Northern Ireland

In late March, Zheng Zeguang, China’s Ambassador to the UK, paid his first official visit to Northern Ireland. Despite strained relations between London and Beijing, this visit was a great success, with the Ambassador meeting a wide range of people from political, academic, business and other social circles, in  his two-city tour of Belfast and Derry.

On March 27, Ambassador Zheng met Sinn Féin’s Christina Black, the current Lord Mayor of Belfast. Mayor Black warmly welcomed the Ambassador and his delegation. She said that, in 2016, Belfast became a sister city of Shenyang, and since then the two sides have made positive progress in mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, education, and culture. Belfast has world-renowned universities and unique advantages in high-end manufacturing, green development, and many other areas. It is a city full of vitality, hope, and warmth. She was eagerly looking forward to unleashing the cooperation potential between China and Belfast through Ambassador Zheng’s visit, and welcomes more Chinese investors, students and tourists to come to Belfast.

Ambassador Zheng thanked the Lord Mayor for her warm hospitality. He said that during his visit to Belfast, he had a taste of the city’s historical heritage and unique political, economic, and cultural characteristics. The Ambassador expressed his hope for joint efforts of the two sides to promote mutual understanding, deepen friendship, and advance exchanges and cooperation.

Ambassador Zheng said that China is promoting high-quality development and will continue to pursue opening up at a higher level and accelerate green transformation. There is great potential for cooperation between China and Belfast on business, education, cultural exchanges, and tourism. It is hoped that Belfast and Shenyang will strengthen exchanges and cooperation as sister cities to bring more tangible benefits to the people of both sides.

Speaking on camera to China Daily after the meeting, Black said: “I have to say our relationship with China is fantastic.”

On being elected Lord Mayor in June last year, Councillor Black had said: “I love this city. I was born and raised here in a strong working-class community and I am immensely proud to be a Bealfeirstian…

“As a community activist, I am committed to empowering local people and communities, and making sure people have a strong voice on their side. It’s what inspired me to get involved in politics, and I am honoured to now be representing the city I love so much, as its First Citizen.”

Councillor Black said one of her priorities for her term in office was to showcase Belfast’s diversity, and support workers and families through the cost of living crisis. She said:

“I’m delighted to have this amazing opportunity. I’m passionate about this city and its people and I can’t wait to get out and meet new people and find out more about the amazing work that’s going on in communities right across our city. I will be Belfast’s biggest ambassador and will use my time in office to keep pushing forward priorities around the inclusive regeneration of our city.

“Belfast is a confident and thriving city with enormous untapped potential to prosper further. The opportunities for our city to grow are endless and working together we can seize them. During my term I want to be a positive voice for everyone in this wonderful city.”

The following day, Ambassador Zheng met with Alex Maskey, the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.  Maskey is a veteran leader of Sinn Féin who has devoted his whole life to the struggle for Irish freedom. He was interned without trial twice in the 1970s and survived two assassination attempts. 

The two had an in-depth exchange of views on enhancing cooperation between China and Northern Ireland in various fields.

Both sides believe that there is great potential for mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Northern Ireland and that fruitful results have been achieved at the China-UK/Northern Ireland Forum on New Energy Innovation. China and Northern Ireland should strengthen exchanges and dialogue, deepen mutual understanding, and actively expand cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, new energy, financial services, education, culture, and tourism, so as to better benefit their people.

On March 29, the Ambassador met with the Mayor of Derry and Strabane, Sinn Féin’s Sandra Duffy. Mayor Duffy warmly welcomed Ambassador Zheng and his delegation and outlined the city’s development in recent years and its future plans. She said that Derry has a number of favourable conditions, such as its geographical advantage of connecting the European Union and the United Kingdom. It has identified new energy, digital economy, high-end manufacturing, financial services, and health as the key sectors for future development, and Chinese entrepreneurs are welcome to invest in the city. Derry and Dalian have carried out sister-city cooperation for five years, and the two sides have achieved positive results in mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, education, research and development, tourism, and culture. The city views China as an opportunity for development and looks forward to expanding exchanges and cooperation through the Ambassador’s visit.

Ambassador Zheng thanked Mayor Duffy for her warm hospitality, and expressed his hope that through his visit, mutual understanding between China and Northern Ireland will be enhanced and friendship and cooperation deepened. Although China-UK relations are currently facing some challenges, local practical cooperation has been growing steadily, which reflects the huge potential of cooperation between the two sides and the shared aspirations of the two peoples. China will continue to actively support Dalian and other Chinese cities to expand friendly exchanges and cooperation with Derry, especially to further tap into the potential for cooperation in areas such as economy and trade, education, culture, tourism, sports, new energy, and high-end manufacturing, so as to better benefit the people of both sides.

In her meeting with the Ambassador, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Jayne Brady said that Northern Ireland has long-standing friendly exchanges with China and attaches great importance to developing relations with the country. Northern Ireland enjoys strong technological advantages in fields such as green economy, financial services, and food safety, and has the geographical advantage of being a bridge connecting the two major markets of the European Union and the United Kingdom. She welcomes Chinese companies to invest in Northern Ireland and hopes that hydrogen-powered buses, whiskey and other products from Northern Ireland can enter the Chinese market. Northern Ireland would also like to further expand exchanges and cooperation with China in education, culture, and tourism, among other areas.

Ambassador Zheng said that in recent years, China and Northern Ireland have carried out fruitful cooperation in economy and trade, education, culture, and other fields, bringing tangible benefits to both sides and that there are great potential and broad prospects for cooperation between the two sides in new energy innovation. China welcomes more high-quality products from Northern Ireland to enter the Chinese market and more friends to go to China, supports the cities and institutions of the two sides to strengthen partnerships, and encourages more two-way personnel exchanges, so as to transform the potential of cooperation into practical cooperation results and bring more benefits to the people of both sides.

Ambassador Zheng also visited Ulster University and Queens University Belfast. He commended Ulster University on its outstanding strength in teaching and research and the positive progress it had made in cooperation with Chinese universities. He also applauded Ulster University Confucius Institute for its important contributions to helping the people of Northern Ireland learn Chinese and understand Chinese history and culture, and to promoting educational cooperation between China and Northern Ireland.

Ambassador Zheng expressed hope for Ulster University to continue to take the lead in cooperation with China, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Chinese universities, and leverage its complementary advantages to achieve mutual benefit. He also expressed best wishes for greater success of the Confucius Institute, and his hope that it will continue to provide world-class Chinese language teaching to students in Northern Ireland and make positive contributions to enhancing the friendship between the people of China and Northern Ireland.

Vice-Chancellor Paul Bartholomew said that Ulster University cherishes its cooperation with China and has established partnerships with many Chinese universities such as Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine and Shaanxi University of Science and Technology. The relevant cooperation continued uninterrupted even during COVID, which speaks fully to its resilience and strong will to cooperate with Chinese universities. Ulster University looks forward to further strengthening the cooperation, and welcomes more Chinese students to study at the university. Ulster University will continue to run the Confucius Institute well and play an active role in promoting educational cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and Northern Ireland.

Visiting Queen’s University Belfast, Vice-Chancellor Ian Greer said that his university attaches great importance to exchanges and cooperation with Chinese universities and welcomes more Chinese students to study at Queen’s. The university values China’s strength in research and huge potential of development and would like to further deepen cooperation with Chinese scientific research institutions. It was a great honour for him to co-host the China-UK/Northern Ireland Forum on New Energy Innovation with the Chinese Consulate General in Belfast. The forum was a meaningful trial to tap into complementary advantages for win-win results. It is hoped that the two sides will continue to explore and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and contribute to green and low-carbon development in Northern Ireland and China.

Ambassador Zheng noted that Queen’s is a world-renowned university and stands out for its top-class teaching and research capacity. It is great to see that Queen’s has established cooperative relations with many Chinese universities. China is striving for high-quality development and supports technological innovation. It has a super-size market and unique advantages in ultra-large-scale application of emerging technologies. China is ready to encourage more universities to expand teaching and research cooperation with Queen’s and will encourage more Chinese students to choose it as their destination for studying overseas.

Addressing a welcome reception at the Chinese Consulate General in Belfast, Zheng said that his country will encourage more Chinese groups, enterprises, students and tourists to come to Northern Ireland, and believes that in Northern Ireland they will find a safe and friendly cultural environment and a fair and open business environment. We welcome people from all walks of life in Northern Ireland to visit China more often, and hope that the business community in Northern Ireland will expand into the Chinese market and share development opportunities through platforms such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the China International Import Expo, the Canton Fair, and the World Intelligence Congress.

At a press conference the Chinese Ambassador said:

“This is my first visit to Northern Ireland and Belfast. I enjoyed the visit so much. Regional cooperation is a very important component of state-to-state relations. The purpose of my visit is to enhance mutual understanding and promote friendship and cooperation. In the past two days, I had extensive exchanges with people from various sectors in Northern Ireland and discussed with them how best to expand cooperation in various fields between China and Northern Ireland. We all see a huge potential and are keen to broaden cooperation between the two sides. I feel very encouraged by it.

“This morning, I attended the China-UK/Northern Ireland Forum on New Energy Innovation, the first of this kind between China and the UK. The discussions were very productive, and in particular, there was a keen interest on both sides to work together to research and develop hydrogen energy and to put it into application. It is a very good example that China and Northern Ireland can conduct more dialogues and discussions in the traditional areas of investment, trade, education, cultural exchange, tourism, and sports, as well as new areas such as new energy, financial services, financial technology, biomedicine and creative industries. I am optimistic about the opportunities of cooperation between the two sides.”

Responding to a question from CGTN, he said:

“I do see the benefits of cooperation and exchanges between China and Northern Ireland already. In recent years, two-way trade and investment have kept growing, and there are about 2,000 Chinese students studying in Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University and other institutions. The Vice Chancellors of the two universities told me that they want to see more Chinese students coming to Northern Ireland and would like to have stronger cooperation in teaching and research with Chinese universities. The CEO of the corporation which invested and built the Titanic Museum told me that before the pandemic, there were so many Chinese tourists, and that she would love to see more Chinese tourists return to Northern Ireland and Belfast.

“It was an honour for me to have a meeting with Speaker Alex Maskey and talk to the representatives of political parties. I had a very good meeting with the head of the civil service Dr Brady as well. I feel encouraged by their positive attitude towards cooperation with China. I said to my friends here that Northern Ireland is a best kept secret. It is so beautiful, pure, and full of potential. I think in the months to come, you will see more delegations and tourists coming this way. We encourage people from all walks of life here to visit China as well. This cooperation certainly serves the interest of both sides.”

A reporter from Raidió Fáilte asked: “Ambassador, on behalf of the Irish speaking community in Belfast, I want to welcome you, on your first visit to our city. Raidió Fáilte are currently working on a series of multi-cultural, multi-lingual projects, with your colleagues in the Confucius institute. In your opinion, how important are these collaborations, and would you like to see similar co-initiatives in the future?”

The Ambassador replied: “The cooperation on Confucius Institutes is hugely important as it not only provides opportunities for students here to learn the Chinese language and to better appreciate the Chinese culture, but also helps facilitate cultural exchanges between the two sides.

“The Confucius Institute that I have visited is located at Ulster University. It is a big success, a model institute. It has the support of the British Council, the support of the University and the support of the Chinese Consulate General as well. It is so popular among the young students. I was able to meet with a group of ‘young ambassadors’. The students are speaking perfect Mandarin and they will obviously become citizens of the world. When they travel to China, do business with China, and make friends in China, it will be so easy to do so without language barrier. We will continue to support the teaching of the Chinese language and the Confucius Institutes here.”

Among the diplomatic and business representatives who accompanied Ambassador Zheng on his visit were those from the London offices of the China National Petroleum Corporation, China Construction Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China. Research agreements were signed between Queen’s University Belfast and various academic institutions in China covering hydrogen energy.

Earlier in March, the Republic of Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, who is also the leader of Ireland’s Green Party, visited China. Ryan, who previously visited China in 1987 and 2010, told the Irish Times prior to his visit:

“One of the main things I’m looking forward to in the visit is to be able to discuss some key issues around climate change and energy, and that’s part of a wider European-Chinese dialogue that is continuing. So, we have to, to a certain extent, put aside if there are other issues of real concern and make sure we do get cooperation, because the world would not be a safe place for anyone if we don’t make that progress on climate.”

Although the main focus of his trip was climate change, renewable energy and transport policy, with visits including those to a high-speed rail terminal and to solar technology companies, Minister Ryan also attended celebrations for Saint Patrick’s Day in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In his Irish Times interview, he noted:

“In many ways, they [the Chinese] have a lead now when it comes to the new industrial revolution that’s taking place in clean energy technologies. The Chinese export 85 per cent of the batteries that are going to be used in electric vehicles. They export 80 per cent of the solar panels. So, they have an interest in terms of their own economic development. They have a real opportunity in this clean energy area. So, both for their need to protect their own people, but also to continue to maintain their advantage in clean energy, it makes sense for China to be progressive…

“Historically, China has looked to Ireland with interest in a disproportionate scale to our size for a variety of historical reasons, going right back to their inclusion in the United Nations and so on.”

Embedded below is a short video produced by China Daily on Ambassador Zheng Zeguang’s Northern Ireland visit.

Counter-Summit for Democracy: where the truth was told

This article by Dee Knight – member of the DSA International Committee’s Anti-War Subcommittee and of the Friends of Socialist China advisory group – provides a valuable summary of the Counter-Summit for Democracy we hosted on 2 April 2023.

A key theme running throughout the speeches is that there was nothing democratic whatsoever about Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy, held a few days before our counter-summit. Prominent invitees to the Summit included Israel, where mass protests are currently taking place against Netanyahu’s authoritarianism; Ukraine, which has banned all communist and socialist parties; France, where millions are protesting Macron’s anti-democratic ramming through of pension changes; and Taiwan, a province of China which was invited specifically in order to undermine the One China Principle and escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Meanwhile the host country – the US – has an entirely dubious democratic record, given its disastrous racism and inequality, not to mention its habit of spreading ‘democracy’ around the world via bombs, coups, sanctions and coercion.

Several speakers noted that the socialist countries are leading the way in terms of developing new forms of popular democracy that are responsive to the needs and aspirations of ordinary people. Meanwhile, US hegemony is dying and a multipolar world is emerging – a system of international relations based on equality, respect for sovereignty, and adherence to the UN Charter. As Calla Walsh commented, “Biden’s summit for democracy would better have been called a summit against a democratic world.”

This article first appeared in LA Progressive.

Speakers at the April 2 “Counter-Summit for Democracy” showed a rogues’ gallery of the “stars of democracy” at Joe Biden’s official summit: authoritarian right-wing leaders Netanyahu of Israel, Duda of Poland, Modi of India, Zelensky of Ukraine and Meloni of Italy. “Even Western officials, corporate media outlets, and mainstream human rights organizations have admitted [they] are authoritarian,” Ben Norton of the GeoPolitical Economy report observed. He said Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni “is a defender of former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini… Her far-right political party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) still uses the same symbols and colors of Mussolini’s fascist movement.”

Netanyahu spoke at Biden’s summit while mass protests were going on in Israel against his authoritarian regime. Israel’s most influential newspaper Haaretz warns that “‘Israel’s Government Has neo-Nazi Ministers. It Really Does Recall Germany in 1933′.”

The US pressured all invitees to sign a joint statement denouncing Russia over the proxy war in Ukraine, Norton said. Poland is virulently anti-Russia, so it was welcomed; Hungary has tried to balance good relations with both the West and Russia, so it was the only EU member not invited.

The governments of Lula Da Silva in Brazil and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) of Mexico refused to support Washington’s denunciation of Moscow. Norton said “the US government exposed its cynical political designs by inviting Ukraine and Taiwan to participate in the summit, despite the fact that Taiwan island is not a country, but rather a province of the People’s Republic of China.”

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke at the conference in spite of his attacks on democracy at home, Norton said. “Zelensky’s regime has banned all communist and socialist parties, while imposing some of the most aggressive anti-worker legislation in the world, suspending collective bargaining rights and essentially making it illegal to form a union. Even the New York Times… acknowledged that Zelensky’s regime has imposed authoritarian control over the media. Meanwhile, Ukrainian opposition politicians and critics have been arbitrarily arrested.”

Continue reading Counter-Summit for Democracy: where the truth was told

China’s diplomacy furthers Yemen peace talks

Since the dramatic announcement from Beijing on March 10 that the hitherto bitterly estranged Middle Eastern neighbors, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, had agreed to reconcile as a result of Chinese mediation, the political map of the region has continued to evolve dramatically in a direction favorable to its countries and peoples and unfavorable to imperialism. 

On April 6, in a further development not flagged in advance, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang met in Beijing, both separately and in a trilateral meeting, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Witnessed by their Chinese counterpart, the two ministers signed an agreement re-establishing their diplomatic relations with immediate effect, following up the agreement reached in principle the previous month. 

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has accepted an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia and there is talk of future Saudi investment in Iran, which would constitute a significant blow to the US sanctions regime. 

In a related development, on April 2, Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia plans to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend the Arab League Summit scheduled for May 19 in Riyadh. This follows a state visit by President Assad and his wife to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a visit by the Syrian Foreign Minister to Egypt.

Most dramatically, there seems to be a real prospect of an end to the terrible war, described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, that has torn Yemen apart for the last nine years and of a lasting political solution in that country. With the assistance of Omani intermediaries, a Saudi delegation visited the Yemeni capital Sana’a in the first week of April for discussions with the Houthi resistance movement who control the capital and much of the country. On April 8, the outline of a peace process, starting with an 8-month ceasefire was announced. The Wall Street Journal commented: “The prospect of ending Yemen’s seemingly intractable conflict has advanced quickly since last month, when China brokered a détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran.” The paper further quoted Houthi spokesperson Mohammed al-Bukhaiti as saying:

“It is too early to say for sure that the negotiations in Sana’a will be successful, but it is clear that an atmosphere of peace hangs over the region, which gives cause for optimism and hope.”

Analyzing the Yemeni developments, Ryan Grim, writing in The Intercept, states: “What’s startling here is the apparent role of China — and complete absence of the US and President Joe Biden — in the deal-making.” 

He quotes Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft: “Biden promised to end the war in Yemen. Two years into his presidency, China may have delivered on that promise.”

Grim adds: “The US always backed Saudi Arabia  to the hilt and vociferously opposed the Houthis, who are backed by Iran. Now China has extracted concessions from the Saudis that made the cease-fire talks possible.”

Grim further cites the Wall Street Journal as reporting on April 6: “In an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this week, CIA Director William Burns expressed frustration with the Saudis, according to people familiar with the matter. He told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the US has felt blindsided by Riyadh’s rapprochement with Iran and Syria – countries that remain heavily sanctioned by the West – under the auspices of Washington’s global rivals.”

The editors of this website do not agree with all the premises of Grim’s article. Specifically, we believe that it over-emphasizes the degree to which it presents developments as representing some kind of defeat or setback for Saudi Arabia. Rather, we consider the main aspect of developments, far from constituting a zero sum game, as being in the interests and mutual benefit of all parties concerned. Most especially, we do not agree with the reference in the article’s conclusion to a “constellation of satellites”. No country is a satellite of China and China has no interest or desire to develop such relations. We nevertheless are pleased to reproduce the article below for its interesting information and mainly positive analysis.

THE WAR IN Yemen looks like it’s coming to an end. U.S. media reported on Thursday that a cease-fire extending through 2023 had been agreed to, but those reports also included Houthi denials. On Friday, Al Mayadeen, a generally pro-Houthi Lebanese news outlet, reported optimism from the Houthi side that the deal is real and the war is winding down. Reuters later on Friday matched Al Mayadeen’s reporting, confirming that Saudi envoys will be traveling to Sana’a to discuss the terms of a “permanent ceasefire.”

What’s startling here is the apparent role of China — and complete absence of the U.S. and President Joe Biden — in the deal-making.

“Biden promised to end the war in Yemen. Two years into his presidency, China may have delivered on that promise,” said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “Decades of militarized American foreign policy in the Middle East have enabled China to play the role of peacemaker while Washington is stuck and unable to offer much more than arms deals and increasingly unconvincing security assurances.”

The U.S. always backed Saudi Arabia to the hilt and vociferously opposed the Houthis, who are backed by Iran. Now China has extracted concessions from the Saudis that made the cease-fire talks possible. The Saudis seem like they are fully capitulating to the Houthi demands, which include opening the major port to allow critical supplies into the country, allowing flights into Sana’a, and allowing the government to have access to its currency to pay its workers and stabilize the economy. Reasonable stuff.

“The Saudi concessions — including a potential lifting of the blockade and exit from the war — demonstrate that their priority is to protect Saudi territory from attack and focus on economic development at home,” said Erik Sperling, executive director of Just Foreign Policy, which has been working for an end to the war in Yemen for years. “This diverges from the approach preferred by many Washington foreign policy elites who continued to hope that the Saudi war and blockade could force the Houthis to make concessions and cede more power to the U.S.-backed Yemeni ‘government.’”

Continue reading China’s diplomacy furthers Yemen peace talks

US uses Taiwan as pawn for war on China

In the following article, which originally appeared in Workers World, Sara Flounders, a contributing editor to the newspaper and a member of our advisory group, unmasks and dissects the US plans for war against China, notably with Taiwan as a pretext.

Sara notes that, “Taiwan, like Ukraine, is a pawn. The military and economic threats on both China and Russia are a desperate bid to quash the emergence of a multipolar world.” She proceeds to outline how, “US imperialist hegemony is being challenged from every side,” citing de-dollarization, the strength of China’s economy, its position in international trade, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

“China,” she notes, “and a growing number of countries are in an increasingly stronger position to resist the U.S.’s unequal demands. Countries with three-quarters of the world’s population refused to go along with sanctions on Russia. Will they be willing to accept US sanctions on China?”

Sara explains that, “Taiwan’s trade with China is far bigger than its trade with the US. Mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of Taiwan’s exports last year, while the US had only a 15% share, according to official Taiwan data. For Taiwan’s imports, mainland China and Hong Kong again ranked first with a 22% share. The US only had a 10% share, ranking behind Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia. South Korea and Japan have greater trade levels with China than with the US.” For US imperialism, the problem is how to make countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific act against their own economic interests.

Explaining the US military moves in some detail, Sara writes that the US is frantically seeking to stop China’s economic rise by militarily encircling it, aiming to create an Asian version of NATO. In its drive to find an excuse for war, the US is reversing the One China policy to which it has committed over the last 50 years.

Her article ends with the militant call: We must mobilize! US hands off China!

While the U.S.-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine continues unabated, the U.S. is preparing at breakneck speed for war with China, using Taiwan as the excuse. Taiwan, like Ukraine, is a pawn. The military and economic threats on both China and Russia are a desperate bid to quash the emergence of a multipolar world.

U.S. imperialist hegemony is being challenged from every side. De-dollarization among major economies of the Global South is a component of trade agreements among the powerful emerging economies of China, Russia, Iran, Brazil, India, Malaysia and South Africa. Even Saudi Arabia, a reactionary bulwark of U.S. domination in West Asia, is willing to seek new agreements with Iran and is interested in trading their oil in Chinese yuan renminbi, rather than be wholly dependent on U.S. dollars. 

Even more threatening to U.S. capitalists is that China is developing trade relations with the 40 countries sanctioned by Washington, and they are doing this by barter and direct currency exchanges. This works around the almighty dollar, the international reserve currency that has dominated global trade and capital flows for 100 years.

These are not the first efforts to find a replacement to U.S. dollar domination. There is no crime that U.S. imperialism wouldn’t commit to preserve the U.S. dollar. Both oil rich Iraq, which proposed a currency based on the dinar in 1990 and Libya, which attempted an African currency in 2010 found they had fabulous resources but no protection from U.S. bombs. Their efforts at sovereignty led to their brutal destruction by U.S. imperialism.

The aspiration to break free of U.S. corporate control is today being challenged by many more countries. China is a more formidable opponent.China is surpassing the U.S. in gross domestic product and the development of its economy. China is the top trading partner to more than 120 countries and the largest external trading partner of the European Union. 

Continue reading US uses Taiwan as pawn for war on China

TikTok on trial: The latest front in the US tech war on China

This article by Amanda Yee, which was first carried on Liberation News, provides a detailed analysis of the US’s attempt to suppress (or transfer ownership of) the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok.

Amanda writes that the attack on TikTok is merely the latest front in an ongoing tech war being waged by the US ruling class, seeking to demonize Chinese tech companies and restrict their access to US markets. The US is “weaponizing Red Scare tactics” in order to ensure its tech dominance. “Forcing the sale of TikTok to a US company, or banning it entirely, which would drive its users to US competitors like Meta, Instagram Reels (owned by Meta), Snapchat, or YouTube Shorts.”

The article notes that the targeting of TikTok over data privacy concerns is discriminatory. US firms including Google and Facebook are notorious for providing data to the state, to the extent that there is “a mutually beneficial relationship between tech companies and the US government: the state protects the interests of Silicon Valley capital, and in return, Big Tech complies with its data requests.” The problem of data privacy is not TikTok’s specific practises – or its alleged links with the Communist Party of China – but the lack of meaningful regulation of the tech sector by the US government.

The US ruling class is whipping up anti-communist and racist hysteria in order to suppress China’s rise and to protect US economic hegemony. All those on the left should oppose this abhorrent strategy.

On March 23, CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee addressing concerns over the popular social media app’s data collection practices and parent company ByteDance’s alleged links to the Chinese government. Though TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, it operates as an independent entity. Chew has maintained the company has never shared user data with the Chinese government, and would refuse if pressed to do so. Still, the Congressional hearings amounted to nothing more than racist political theater, a McCarthyite witch trial, in which members of Congress who demonstrated little understanding of how basic social media algorithms—or even home Wi–Fi networks—work attempted to spuriously link Chew, who was born, raised, and currently lives in Singapore, to the Communist Party of China.

At one point during the hearings, Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona asks Chew, “Do you agree that the Chinese government is persecuting the Uyghur population?” to which a perplexed Chew firmly responds, “Congresswoman, I’m here to describe TikTok and what we do as a platform.”

Make no mistake: the TikTok hearings had nothing to do with the baseless threat of Chinese surveillance and everything to do with maintaining the dominance of U.S. capitalism. TikTok is the most popular and most frequently downloaded social media app worldwide, boasting 150 million users in the United States alone. The overall time users spend on TikTok now far exceeds some of its U.S. competitors, and it has been rapidly pulling digital advertising away from these same companies. 

The hearings were just the latest in the U.S. tech war against China—a key front in the new Cold War—and Silicon Valley has found as its ally rising anti-Chinese sentiment and, through the arm of the capitalist state, is weaponizing such Red Scare tactics to ensure tech dominance. This explains why the U.S. government is trying to force the sale of TikTok to a U.S. company, or ban it entirely, which would drive its users to U.S. competitors like Meta, Instagram Reels (owned by Meta), Snapchat, or YouTube Shorts.

Either way, Silicon Valley stands to benefit. And even if the U.S. government doesn’t go through with a TikTok ban, the spectacle of the hearings and fearmongering over Chinese surveillance was enough to drive up stocks for Meta and Snapchat.

Continue reading TikTok on trial: The latest front in the US tech war on China

Xi Jinping: Life is about doing something meaningful for the people

“Serve the People” is the title of one of Mao Zedong’s most famous articles. And this simple phrase also goes to the heart of the style of work that the Communist Party of China seeks to promote.

This video, released by CGTN to coincide with Xi Jinping’s recent election to serve as the President of China for a third term, shows how the Chinese leader has practiced and come to personify this way of working since his early years.

It begins with his being sent, as a teenage ‘educated youth’, to the poor village of Liangjiahe in Shaanxi province. He rose to become the village party secretary and led the local people to take a whole series of innovative measures to boost food production. Yet he only ate white rice once in the whole of the seven years that he lived there.

The documentary follows the future national leader through his work in Zhengding, a poor area in Hebei province, where he started his political career and encouraged the development of rural research teams and of a semi-suburban economy, to Fujian, where he encouraged local people to become ‘sci-tech’ experts, and to his leadership of disaster relief work in Zhejiang.

Against this historical background, we also see the people’s leader going, in Lenin’s memorable words, “lower and deeper to the real masses” in all parts of the country. Particularly striking are his revisits to the places and people where and with whom he worked in the past. When the film culminates with him taking the oath of office of President last month, with clenched fist raised, one can well appreciate how this accords with the deeply-felt wish of the Chinese people from all ethnic groups.

The CGTN video is embedded below.

Palestinian delegation visits China

The long-term friendship and solidarity between China and Palestine has again been reaffirmed by the recent visit of a delegation of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) headed by its General Secretary Ahmed Majdalani. Founded in 1967, the PPSF is a major organisation  of the Palestinian resistance.

Meeting the delegation on March 30, Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), stated that the friendship between China and Palestine is determined by the shared history of both sides and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Over the past half century and more, the two sides have always firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests. Regardless of the changes in international and regional situations, the Chinese side firmly supports the Palestinian people’s just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights and always stands with the Palestinian people.

Majdalani said there is deep friendship between the political parties, governments, and peoples of Palestine and China, and the Popular Struggle Front has maintained regular contact with the CPC for many years. The Palestinian side adheres to the One China principle, firmly supports China’s position on issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea, and supports China in addressing various challenges in the changing world. The Palestinian side congratulates on the successful China-Arab States Summit and China’s successful promotion of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and supports and welcomes China’s greater role in the security and stability of the Middle East. The Popular Struggle Front attaches great importance to its comradely relations with the CPC and actively responds to the series of initiatives proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The same day, Majdalani, who is also Palestine’s Minister of Social Development, met with Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li, who welcomed his visit to China and said that China and Palestine are good brothers and good partners, adding that China firmly supports the Palestinian people’s just cause to restore legitimate national rights, and always stands together with the Palestinian people. China will, as always, provide Palestine with humanitarian and development assistance.

Majdalani highly appreciated China for upholding a just position and playing an important role on the Palestinian question, and thanked China for firmly supporting the Palestinian people’s just cause and providing Palestine with long-term and precious support and help.

The next day, the IDCPC hosted a forum on the ‘Common Progress of Civilisations of China and Palestine’ in the southern city of Nanjing. Speaking at the forum, Majdalani thanked the Chinese side for always firmly supporting the just cause of the Palestinian people. He added that the Palestinian side highly appreciates the Global Civilization Initiative proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and is willing to join hands with the Chinese side to promote their respective modernization through exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

The following articles were originally carried on the websites of the IDCPC and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Additionally, articles on their China visit can be read on the PPSF website.

Liu Jianchao Meets a Delegation of the Popular Struggle Front of Palestine

Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, met here today with a delegation of the Popular Struggle Front of Palestine headed by Ahmed Majdalani, Secretary General of the Popular Struggle Front of Palestine.

Liu stated that the friendship between China and Palestine is determined by the shared history of both sides and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Over the past half century and more, the two sides have always firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests. In December of last year, President Xi Jinping and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas successfully held a meeting, which charted the course for the development of bilateral relations. The CPC attaches great importance to developing friendly relations with the Popular Struggle Front and is willing to take the opportunity of the joint celebration of the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen experience exchanges on state governance and administration and strategic communication, enhance cooperation and inject new momentum into the development of China-Palestine relations through inter-party channels.

Continue reading Palestinian delegation visits China

Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Tsai Ing-wen’s ‘transit’ through the US

The following statement, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China on 6 April 2023, expresses China’s strong objection to the US’s facilitation of Tsai Ing-wen’s transit through the US, during which she had a high-profile meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The statement points out that this visit forms part of an increasingly consistent pattern by the US of undermining the One China principle and encouraging Taiwanese separatism, with a view to stoking cross-Strait tensions and weakening China.

The statement urges the US to return to a framework of international law and to its obligations under the three China-US joint communiqués.

Through the past few days, in disregard of China’s serious representations and repeated warnings, the United States deliberately greenlighted the transit of Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Taiwan region, through the United States. US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the number three in the US government, had a high-profile meeting with Tsai. Other US officials and lawmakers also had contact with Tsai and provided the platform for her separatist rhetoric for “Taiwan independence”. This is essentially the United States acting with Taiwan to connive at “Taiwan independence” separatists’ political activities in the United States, conduct official contact with Taiwan and upgrade the substantive relations with Taiwan, and frame it as a “transit”. This is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués. It seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends an egregiously wrong signal to the “Taiwan independence” separatist forces. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it.

The one-China principle is a prevailing consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations. It is also the prerequisite and basis for the establishment and development of China-US diplomatic relations. In the three China-US joint communiqués, the United States made a clear commitment of maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan. Over the years, however, the United States has obdurately attempted to contain China by exploiting the Taiwan question and betrayed its commitments. The United States has been crossing the line and acting provocatively on issues such as US-Taiwan official exchanges, arms sales to and military dealings with Taiwan and creating chances for Taiwan to expand its so-called “international space”, and kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle. Since taking office, Tsai has refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus which embodies the one-China principle. Instead of reining in separatist rhetoric and activities in Taiwan for “Taiwan independence”, Tsai has supported and encouraged them, and sought to push for “incremental independence” under various pretenses. This has put cross-Strait relations in serious difficulty.

The Taiwan question is at the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations. “Taiwan independence” and cross-Strait peace and stability are as irreconcilable as fire and water. The pursuit of “Taiwan independence” will lead nowhere. In response to the egregiously wrong action taken by the United States and Taiwan, China will take strong and resolute measures to defend our sovereignty and territorial integrity. We once again urge the United States to adhere to the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués, act on the US leader’s assurances of not supporting “Taiwan independence” and not supporting “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”, stop at once any form of official exchanges with Taiwan, stop upgrading substantive relations with Taiwan, stop creating factors that could cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait, stop containing China by exploiting the Taiwan question, and not go further down the wrong and dangerous path.

Video: China, Brazil move towards de-dollarizing trade

Brazilian President Lula’s widely anticipated visit to China has now been rescheduled for April 11-14, following his recovery from the influenza and pneumonia that forced a postponement. Whilst a number of bilateral agreements are due to be signed during that visit, a scheduled business seminar between the two countries went ahead as planned, already resulting in more than 20 agreements, most significantly regarding moves to de-dollarize Sino-Brazilian trade, in favour of a move to national currencies. 

On Iran’s Press TV, Kaveh Taghavi was joined by Camila Escalante of Kawsachun News and Montreal-based author and journalist Arnold August to discuss the significance of this move, which, Camila notes, also coincides with the confirmation of the appointment of Dilma Rousseff,  former Brazilian President and Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) comrade, as President of the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB), headquartered in Shanghai, as well as the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Honduras. 

Arnold August situates these developments in the wider context of the loss of US hegemony and the growth of the BRICS, with an increasing number of developing countries seeking membership. He explains how the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is able to work for the well-being of the Chinese people and people around the world, and cites the recent Beijing agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to repair their relations as another example of China’s increasing role in world affairs. 

The video of their discussion is embedded below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVcJrwJPdeA&ab_channel=HIGHLIGHTS

Guangzhou 1927: the Paris Commune of the East

The Paris Commune, which lasted from March 18-May 28 1871, is generally regarded as the first seizure of power by the proletariat, and formation of a workers’ government, in history. As such, it has continued to inspire varied attempts to establish workers power and build socialism, whether in terms of inspiration or direct emulation. 

One such example was the 1927 uprising in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, which became known as the ‘Paris Commune of the East’. 

In the following article, originally published in the March-April 2021 issue of the Funambulist journal, which took as its theme ‘The Paris Commune & The World’, Tings Chak locates the background to this heroic struggle and the events that led up to it within the broader sweep of the Chinese revolution.

She begins by foregrounding the work of Qu Qiubai, one of the earliest Chinese communists , who was first politicized by the May 4th Movement of 1919, whose leaders included two key founders of the Communist Party of China two years later, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao.  It was Qu who first translated the Internationale, written by the communard Eugène Pottier, after he first heard whilst attending the third anniversary cerebration of the October Revolution in Russia. 

Tings notes the key importance of the Work-Study Program, which drew some 2,000 Chinese young people to France, including Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, both in introducing Marxist ideas to China and particularly knowledge of the Paris Commune. In 1922, writing in the journal New Youth, Zhou Enlai observed that the “short-lived flower” of the Paris Commune had found its continuation in the October Revolution. 

China’s first mass commemoration of the Paris Commune marked its 55th anniversary on March 18 1926 in Guangzhou. Mao Zedong, too, spoke of the Commune as a “bright flower”, which had brought forth a “happy fruit” in the October Revolution, from which, in turn, more fruits could be born.

The next year, up to one million workers and peasants celebrated the Commune across China. In Wuhan, Liu Shaoqi, later President of the People’s Republic of China, called on the working class to combine the spirit of the Paris Commune with the struggle against imperialism and warlordism. But shortly after, frightened by the rising power of the workers, Chiang Kai-shek unleashed the Shanghai Massacre, ending the Kuomintang’s first united front with the Communist Party. Subsequent communist-led urban uprisings, culminating in the Guangzhou Uprising on December 11, were equally brutally suppressed. However, as the great British communist Ralph Fox, who was later killed fighting with the International Brigades in Spain, wrote:

“For three days a great city in an eastern country dominated by imperialism was seized and held by the oppressed classes ruling through their Soviet. Technical and military errors there were, but, politically, no mistakes were made. The Communist Party of China, which led and organized the revolt, has reason to be proud of its application of Lenin’s teachings in the difficult circumstances of China. The work of the Party in the insurrection showed not only that it had the closest contacts with workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie and soldiers, but that it understood how to rally the widest masses of all these classes to the support of the revolution by correct slogans and a sure political line.”

The Commune of Canton, 1928

On March 19, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Keith Bennett, along with our advisory group members Professors Ken Hammond and Radhika Desai, and Carlos Garrido of Midwestern Marx, spoke at an International Manifesto Group webinar on The Paris Commune: Its Revolutionary Significance.

It was in the Russian autumn of 1920 when Qu Qiubai first heard L’Internationale, the socialist anthem born of the 1871 Paris Commune. Eugène Pottier, author of the song’s lyrics, was a Communard and elected member of the workers’ state that lasted 72 days in the French capital. Though written nearly half a century earlier, that song had been adopted only recently as the anthem of the Bolshevik Party. Until today, this song is one of the most translated and sung anthems of the oppressed around the world. Qu was attending the third anniversary celebration of the October Revolution, having traveled through Harbin (China’s northernmost provincial capital) to reach Russia. Fluent in French and Russian, he was sent to be a correspondent in Moscow for the Beijing Morning News (晨报), covering the early years of the Bolshevik Revolution.

In 1920, the communist movement in China had barely begun, but the nation was hungry for its ideas. The colonial plunders of two Opium Wars marked the beginning of the “century of humiliation,” which saw the ceding of Hong Kong to the British and the sacking of the Old Summer Palace by Anglo-French forces. The Qing dynasty fell in 1911 only to be succeeded by a puppet Republican government. The country was divided, feudalism and warlordism were rampant. The Chinese people were hungry — physically and spiritually — for its nation to be set free.

Like the thousands of young radicals of the time, Qu was politicized in the May Fourth Movement of 1919. The Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I saw the ultimate betrayal of China’s interests — instead of having its territories returned, the Western Allies would agree to transfer Shandong Province from the colonial hands of Japan to Germany. In response, a national movement led by students in Beijing was born, anchored in anti-imperialist, anti-feudal and anti-patriarchal politics. This awakening gave birth to the New Culture Movement — with New Youth as its key publication — and an opening for new ideas to guide the country’s transformation. Among its leaders were Beijing University professors, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, who were pivotal in bringing Marxist ideas into China. They both helped found the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1921.

The betrayal by Western Allies was felt all the more after the contributions that the Chinese people made to the Great War. To meet their growing labor shortages, French and British states relied heavily on the colonies across Africa, Indochina and China. 140,000 Chinese people — mostly peasants — joined the French and British war efforts, while another 200,000 fought on the Eastern Front with the Russian Red Army. The Chinese Labor Corps did every task but bear arms: they dug trenches, worked in munition factories, repaired equipment on the frontlines, buried the dead. Thousands died, though this part of history is little told in the West. Around that same time, there was another group of young Chinese people heading to France. Originally initiated by Chinese anarchists in 1908, the program became formalized into the Diligent Work-Frugal Study program in 1919 that brought 2000 Chinese workers and peasants to Paris: they would work in factories in return for their Western education. The poor living and working conditions politicized many of these students. On February 28, 1921, 400 Chinese work-study students demonstrated against further reductions in bursaries. Events like this one brought the movement closer to the World War I generation workers as they began organizing together in the Renault factories from the industrial banlieues (suburbs) of Boulogne-Billancourt and La Garenne-Colombes. It was from the factory floors and in the university halls where Marxism would enter the Chinese revolutionary thought. Among the students were Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, founders of the European branch of the CPC. Zhou Enlai would serve as Premier for 26 years and Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who succeeded Mao Zedong upon the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Continue reading Guangzhou 1927: the Paris Commune of the East

US push to strip China’s developing country status an attack on development itself

The following article by Danny Haiphong, first published on his blog CGTN, discusses the unanimous vote in the US House of Representatives in favour of the ‘PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act’, which directs the State Department to seek the removal of China’s status as a developing country.

Noting that China’s developing country status is very much consistent with its per capita income (five times lower than the US) and overall development level, Danny demonstrates that this action is yet another component of the US’s broader strategy to contain China’s economic rise and geopolitical influence, and is driven by the US’s inability to compete with China’s rapidly advancing state-led economy. Other components of this strategy include the attempt to ban TikTok and the ban on semiconductor exports to China.

As Danny points out, the ‘PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act’ is an attack on development itself. “It is a warning to nations around the world that they risk economic warfare should their success be perceived as a threat to US hegemony.”

On March 28, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act” by a unanimous vote of 415-0 in yet another demonstration of the solid bipartisanship that exists in the United States when it comes to containing and isolating China. Under the terms of the bill, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken would be directed to seek the removal of China’s status as a developing country from international organizations and institutions.

The United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank all recognize China as a developing country for good reason. China’s GDP per capita, while rising, is $12,700 or about five times smaller than the U.S.’s. China’s Human Development Index is 79th in the world. It’s committed to improving living standards for all people and has taken its commitments to the international community seriously. Of course, the “PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act” has nothing to do with facts and everything to do with curbing China’s development.

Ending China’s developing country status prematurely would come with consequences. The World Bank and IMF could rescind tariff preferences and low-interest loans. China’s carbon emissions target may increase and the time-frame for meeting them decrease. In other words, China’s development path would become more difficult, which is exactly what the “PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act” hopes to achieve.

Continue reading US push to strip China’s developing country status an attack on development itself

President Maduro: China is a non-imperialist great power

This short piece from RedRadioVE, translated from Spanish to English by Orinoco Tribune, reports on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s comments during a farewell ceremony for China’s ambassador to Venezuela, Li Baorong.

Noting that relations between Venezuela and China are “at the highest level, at the best level, that they have ever been”, Maduro reflects on China’s emergence as a major economic and diplomatic power, stating that the evidence indicates China “can be a great power without being an imperialist power”. This echoes his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who famously commented in 2012 that “China is large but it’s not an empire. China doesn’t trample on anyone, it hasn’t invaded anyone, it doesn’t go around dropping bombs on anyone.”

Maduro further remarked that China and Venezuela are working together in a spirit of solidarity, sharing a concept of a “community of common destiny for humanity.”

“China gives strong signals that it can be a great power without being an imperialist power,” said the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, this Monday. The comments were made in the context of the new multipolar geopolitical reality in which the People’s Republic of China has emerged as a great power.

“Relations between Greater China and the Homeland of Bolívar have reached their highest level of mutual trust, collaboration, and work, and our relations are at the highest level, at the best level, that relations between Venezuela and China have ever been,” President Maduro said.

The head of state said that both nations have shared visions regarding the construction of a new humanity. That goal must be built, the president said, with relations of respect, cooperation, and solidarity.

Regarding US provocations centered around the Chinese province of Taiwan, the Venezuelan president questioned the aggression of the West towards China: “Venezuela has been on the front line of the battle for truth, denouncing all the provocations against China and supporting the People’s Republic of China and its desire for peace and the peaceful exercise of sovereignty.”

These words were issued by President Maduro during a farewell ceremony for the ambassador from the People’s Republic of China to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Li Baorong.

“Five years after the beginning of his service as ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, in Venezuela—mission accomplished,” Maduro said. “China and Venezuela will continue their path of redemption, development, and common destiny.”

Despite imperialist aggression, the Chinese ambassador was able to witness how the Venezuelan people faced difficult situations. “Still, we have emerged victorious,” President Maduro said.

The Venezuelan president took the opportunity to extend his congratulations to his counterpart, Xi Jinping, for his recent re-election.

Finally, President Maduro pointed out that, in the face of imperial hegemony, civilizational changes are being generated with the emergence of a great military, political, and economic power that promotes the concept of a new humanity under the slogan of a “community of common destiny for mankind.”

Videos: The Counter-Summit for Democracy

On 2 April 2023, Friends of Socialist China and the International Manifesto Group co-hosted a powerful and successful Counter-Summit for Democracy, a response to the US-sponsored so-called Summit for Democracy held a few days earlier.

The participants at this counter-summit exposed the hegemonic reality behind the US’s talk of a ‘rules-based world order’; explored alternative models of democracy; denounced US-led attempts at ‘decoupling’ and incitement of division; promoted an emerging multipolar, multilateral model of international relations; and called for for global cooperation to solve the vast problems collectively faced by humanity.

The videos from the event are embedded below.

Full event stream
Carlos Martinez: the ‘democracies vs autocracies’ narrative is part of an imperialist propaganda war
Margaret Kimberley: democracy and imperialism are antithetical
Lowkey: the West’s record of genocidal war speaks to its commitment to human rights
Luna Oi: the US working class and oppressed groups suffer systematic abuse of their human rights
Carlos Ron: Latin Americans understand very well that the US has no respect for our sovereignty
Pawel Wargan: the antidote to this brutal capitalist democracy is popular, socialist democracy
Calla Walsh: the ‘democratic’ US is suffocating Cuba because of its socialist democracy
Ju-Hyun Park: Build solidarity with Korea’s anti-imperialist struggle
Mohammad Marandi: The West is a declining empire
Ben Norton: participant list shows that the Summit for Democracy is really a Summit for Hypocrisy

Xi’s visit to Russia: a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace

Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia, March 20-22, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who accompanied the President, briefed the press crew on its results.

This detailed briefing is significant not only for its summation of the visit but more especially for its careful and profound exposition of the thinking behind it within the overall context of Chinese foreign policy and assessment of the international situation.

The visit, Qin Gang explained, was an important decision made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core from the perspectives of the overall situation. The changes unseen in a century have been accelerated and the international structures of power have undergone profound adjustments. The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable, while hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism rampage, the Cold War mentality and bloc politics resurface, and the competition between the two trends and two paths has become more fierce. The world is entering a new period of turbulence and changes. As two major countries in the world and permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council, how the China-Russia relationship goes bears on global strategic stability and security, as well as the future evolution of the world landscape. The more complex the international situation is, the more necessary it is for China and Russia to strengthen communication and coordination.

Qin Gang said that 10 years ago, President Xi Jinping, when delivering a speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, proposed for the first time the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity. Over the past 10 years, the vision has gained support from a growing number of countries. The evolution of the international situation has proven once again that only in sharing weal and woe and helping each other in solidarity and coordination will every country be able to help resolve global challenges facing humanity.

Clearly taking aim at imperialist propaganda against China, Russia and other anti-imperialist, independent countries, and particularly at US President Biden’s farcical “summit for democracy” held last week, Qin Gang noted that the principal contradiction in today’s world is not at all a so-called “democracy versus autocracy” contest hyped up by certain countries, but a struggle between development and containment of development, and between justice and power politics. In the face of rampant unilateralism and hegemonism, it is all the more valuable for China and Russia to consolidate and strengthen strategic coordination. China and Russia are committed to promoting a multipolar world and greater democracy in international relations, which meets the demand for upholding international fairness and justice.

It was Moscow, he said, that was President Xi Jinping’s first overseas visit destination after he took office as Chinese President in 2013. Ten years on, President Xi Jinping once again chose Russia as his first overseas destination in a new term of office. It was by no means a coincidence, but a political choice made after careful consideration.  China and Russia are each other’s biggest neighbor, and are committed to no-alliance, no-confrontation and not targeting any third party in developing the bilateral relationship.

Qin Gang said, this visit comes as the Ukraine crisis is prolonged and escalated with its spillover effect continually surfacing. Most countries are deeply concerned and call for easing tensions, and there are more and more voices for ceasefire, peace and rationality. Recently, with the promotion and support of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran had successful talks in Beijing and decided to beat swords into plowshares, restoring their diplomatic relations. The international community highly values the Saudi Arabia-Iran talks as fully demonstrating that China is a fair, impartial, trustworthy and responsible major country, and expects China to play a greater role in solving regional hotspot issues. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, China has taken an objective and impartial position and actively promoted peace talks. 

During this visit, President Xi Jinping and President Putin had an in-depth and candid exchange on the Ukraine crisis. President Xi Jinping pointed out, a review of history shows that basically conflicts have to be settled through dialogue and negotiation. The more difficulties there are, the greater the need to keep space for peace. The more acute the problem is, the more important it is not to give up efforts for dialogue. As long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis. The Russian side highly praised China’s objective, impartial and balanced position, and said that Russia has carefully studied China’s position paper, and is open to talks for peace. Russia welcomes China to play a constructive role in this regard.

Foreign Minister Qin noted that  China was not the one creating the Ukraine crisis, nor a party to the crisis. Instead, China is an advocate of the political settlement of the crisis and a promoter of peace talks. Certain countries, out of selfish geopolitical interests, have done everything possible to obstruct peace talks, and even fabricated all kinds of rumors and fallacies to attack and smear China. But justice lies in the heart of people. Who is fanning the flames and fueling the fight? Who is promoting peace talks? These are all facts witnessed by the whole world. China’s position is clear-cut and consistent. Between peace and war, we choose peace. Between dialogue and sanctions, we choose dialogue. Between lowering the temperature and fanning the flames, we choose the former. China does not have selfish political interests or engage in geopolitical manipulation. Instead, China is sincerely committed to promoting peace talks and a ceasefire. 

We reprint below the full text of the briefing. It was originally published on the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

From March 20 to 22, 2023, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Russia at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Upon wrapping up the trip, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang briefed the accompanying press crew on the visit.

Qin Gang said that as China’s “two sessions” have just successfully concluded, President Xi Jinping paid the state visit to Russia, raising the new curtain on China’s head-of-state diplomacy for this year. At this special time of complex situations, the visit was substantive with rich connotations  and fruitful outcomes. The visit was an important decision made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core from the perspectives of the overall situation of national development and the general picture of diplomatic strategies, and it showcased China’s resolute commitment to an independent foreign policy of peace and an open mind to promote world peace. The visit has been closely followed internationally and it is commonly  believed that President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia is an event of far-reaching significance for global geopolitics, shows China’s international image as a peace builder, demonstrates China’s role and responsibility as a responsible major country, and will inject more stability into complicated international situations and conduce to promoting a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations.

I. Stay committed to independence and defend international fairness and justice

Qin Gang said that the changes unseen in a century have been accelerated and the international structures of power have undergone profound adjustments. The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable, while hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism rampage, the Cold War mentality and bloc politics resurface, and the competition between the two trends and two paths has been more fierce. The world is entering a new period of turbulence and changes. As the two major countries in the world and permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council, how the China-Russia relationship goes  bears on global strategic stability and security, as well as the future evolution of the world landscape. The more complex the international situation is, the more necessary it is for China and Russia to strengthen communication and coordination.

Continue reading Xi’s visit to Russia: a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace

Interview: The US system is plutocratic rather than democratic

In this interview for Xinhua, carried out against the backdrop of President Biden’s so-called Summit for Democracy 2023, Carlos Martinez rejects the US ruling class’s claim to be the arbiter of which countries are democratic and which aren’t. The US is in fact “a democracy for the capitalist class – the ruling class, the group of people that own and deploy capital.” Such a democracy “prioritizes fossil fuel profits over preventing climate breakdown; it prioritizes private medical companies and pharmaceutical industry profits over saving lives; it prioritizes the military-industrial complex over preserving peace.” Noting the disastrous and escalating levels of systemic racism in the US, Carlos asks: “Does anybody seriously think this represents the pinnacle of democracy?”

Carlos contrasts the actions of the US government with those of China: “The Chinese government is prioritizing common prosperity, developing clean energy systems in order to protect the planet, rolling out infrastructure throughout the country, tackling corruption, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with the peoples of the world.” The alignment between the government’s actions and the needs and aspirations of ordinary people is a strong indicator that China is far more democratic than its detractors in the West.

The United States is portraying itself as the universal model of democracy, but in fact its system is “plutocratic rather than democratic,” British political commentator Carlos Martinez has said.

“As a capitalist democracy, the U.S. is a democracy for the capitalist class — the ruling class, the group of people that own and deploy capital. As many people have pointed out, it is a money democracy, and the government meets the interests primarily of the wealthy,” Martinez told Xinhua in a recent written interview.

“In England we say that ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating.’ Similarly, you can tell the nature of a government by its actions; by its economic, political and social priorities,” he wrote.

In Martinez’s view, the U.S. government “prioritizes fossil fuel profits over preventing climate breakdown; it prioritizes private medical companies and pharmaceutical industry profits over saving lives; it prioritizes the military-industrial complex over preserving peace. These priorities match those of the elite, not the people, not the vast majority of people that work for a living.”

Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, the United States sees an increasing number of homeless people each year and declining life expectancy, he said.

“The scourge of racism is getting worse in the U.S. This structural racism is evident throughout society: in health indicators, in educational outcomes, in economic outcomes,” Martinez noted.

“Black people, Latinos and indigenous Americans are far more likely to suffer chronic poverty, to live in crowded housing, and to lack access to healthcare. This is the continuing unaddressed legacy of slavery, genocide, colonization and apartheid. Does anybody seriously think this represents the pinnacle of democracy?” he asked.

“Given the state of U.S. democracy, it’s nothing short of farcical that the (Joe) Biden administration persists with organizing the so-called Summit for Democracy,” Martinez said.

He further said that the U.S. government is failing to improve people’s lives, and so “it uses nice words about democracy to attract voters.”

On geopolitics, the Biden administration is using the summit to consolidate an alliance that seeks to protect U.S. hegemony and impede humanity’s movement towards multipolarity, noted Martinez, who also closely watched the first episode of the summit in 2021.

“The Summit for Democracy is, in reality, a summit for hegemony,” he said.

Speaking of China’s democratic practices, he said that the Chinese government is “prioritizing common prosperity, developing clean energy systems in order to protect the planet, rolling out infrastructure throughout the country, tackling corruption, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with the peoples of the world.”

“These priorities are entirely consistent with the needs and aspirations of the Chinese people,” he wrote.

Citing challenges such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and poverty, Martinez said what the world needs is genuine democracy in international relations.

“Cooperation, mutual respect, non-interference and a win-win approach are absolutely necessary to secure a safe future for humanity,” he said.

Summit for Democracy 2023 – “a bad idea that won’t go away”

This article by Dee Knight – member of the DSA International Committee’s Anti-War Subcommittee and the Friends of Socialist China advisory group – casts light on the stunning hypocrisy involved in Biden’s so-called Summit for Democracy, held in the last week of March 2023. Dee points out that, even among friends of the US ruling class, there are very few positive opinions about the Summit, and an increasingly generalized sense that US democracy is going in the losing influence. Dee cites Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador telling the hard truth at the Summit itself: “Many of the great crimes against humanity have been committed… in the name of democracy… In some countries, the oligarchy reigns with the façade of democracy.”

Dee also references a series of documents released by China in the days preceding the Summit, incuding State of Democracy in US: 2022 and the Report on US Human Rights Violations in 2022. These documents highlight the systematic abuse of democracy and the manifold human rights violations committed by the US administration, including the tight correlation between wealth and power; the loss of abortion rights; the extensive use of military force and unilateral sanctions; mass incarceration; the cruel treatment of migrants; and the alarming rise in hate crimes. In such a situation, Dee writes, “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

The author encourages readers to tune in to our Counter-Summit for Democracy.

This article was first carried in LA Progressive.

Positive descriptive terms for this year’s US-sponsored “Summit for Democracy” are scarce. A State Department press release quoted Joe Biden that “we have to prove democracy still works and can improve people’s lives in tangible ways.” That’s “a tough hill to climb,” according to the Washington Post’s March 29 “Today’s Worldview.”

“Critics see the event as an inconsequential talk shop,” the Post said, “or an unwelcome showcase into the inconsistency of US foreign policy on the world stage, as Washington goes to bat for human rights in some contexts and looks the other way in others.”

Some critics were harsher. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said “the summit for democracy is a bad idea that [won’t] go away,” adding that “American democracy is hardly a model for others.”

Le Monde, the French newspaper, wrote recently that 2022 was “a year of doubt for US democracy.” Sweden’s International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance added the US to its “list of regressive democracies.” US democracy is “in a worse state than ever before,” according to The New Yorker, Washington Post, and the Brookings Institution. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports that American democracy is “declining faster as the inherent ills of American capitalism worsen.”

So much for those who usually defend the US viewpoint. Stronger views are easy to find. Organizers of a Counter-Summit for Democracy say “Biden’s attempts to consolidate a ‘democratic’ alliance are part of the escalating US-led New Cold War. Labelling socialist and anti-imperialist states as ‘authoritarian,’ the US ruling elite seeks to consolidate a military, economic and political bloc on the basis of its own narrow interests, and to build popular support for its rising hostility towards China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and other countries in the crosshairs of imperialism.”

Organizers – Pivot To Peace, Veterans For Peace, Popular Resistance, Friends of Socialist China, and a dozen other groups – say the Counter-Summit “will expose the hegemonic reality behind the US talk of a ‘rules-based world order;’ explore alternative models of democracy; promote an emerging multipolar, multilateral model of international relations; and call for global cooperation to solve the vast problems faced by humanity.” 

Participants include Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report, Vijay Prashad of India’s Tricontinental Institute, Pawel Wargan of the Progressive International, and Venezuela’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Ron, among others. There will also be voices from China, Cuba, Vietnam, Iran, Korea and Nicaragua.

Mexican President AMLO: ‘Crimes in the name of democracy’

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) of Mexico shook up the summit March 29, declaring “Many of the great crimes against humanity have been committed… in the name of democracy.” He added that “in some countries, the oligarchy reigns with the façade of democracy.” He asked, “How can we talk about democracy if there is no separation of economic power and political power?” In many countries he said there is “a mixture of oligarchy and democracy, or a simulated and mediated democracy,” adding that “We must search for greater equality to have more democracy.”

AMLO’s sharp comments follow his March 18 speech condemning US politicians who called for a military invasion of Mexico “to combat drug trafficking.” Speaking to a throng of hundreds of thousands in Mexico City’s “Zócalo” (central plaza), AMLO said “We remind those hypocritical and irresponsible politicians that Mexico is an independent and free country, not a colony or a protectorate of the United States!” He had convened the event to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the 1938 oil nationalization by revolutionary former President Lázaro Cárdenas. He mentioned that he recently re-nationalized Mexico’s oil resources, and its lithium reserves, which may have been a factor in recent US politicians’ invasion threats.

China’s English-language newspaper Global Times editorialized March 28 that the summit is being “used by the Biden administration as a tool to reaffirm US leadership in so-called democracy and human rights. Its ambition to pull more countries into its interest camp to contain its rivals, especially China and Russia.”

Economist Michael Hudson, speaking on Danny Haiphong’s Left Lens video show March 30, called the summit “a charade” that is “pushing the world away.” He pointed to Secretary of State Blinken’s insistence that participants “deplore Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” ignoring the US-backed coup in 2014 that brought fascists to power and ignited a war against Russian speakers in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Last year’s Summit of the Americas hit many sour notes: “Official ‘Americas Summit’ Sags While People’s Summit Surges” (June 3, 2022); “Is the Failure of Biden’s Summit of the Americas a Welcome Event?” (June 8, 2022); “Storms at the Summit of the Americas” (June 12, 2022); “‘Summit of Exclusion’ Backfires on Biden” (June 15, 2022); “Summit of the Americas Flops” (June 22, 2022) – and on and on.

In “Storms at the Summit of the Americas,” Rosa Miriam Elizalde wrote “hypocrisy seems to be the glue of this summit, and mainstream U.S. media and analysts declared the June 6-10 meeting a failure before it even started.”

Continue reading Summit for Democracy 2023 – “a bad idea that won’t go away”

China isn’t our enemy, targeting of Tiktok is xenophobic

In this brief interview for CGTN, North American anti-war activist Calla Walsh – one of the co-chairs of the National Network on Cuba, and a speaker at our Counter-Summit for Democracy – explains that a growing number of young people in the US do not see China as their enemy but rather as a friend; “as a global leader that is really paving the way to a more peaceful and multi-polar world where all countries have a right to sovereignty, instead of living under the yoke of the United States.” Although young people in the West are exposed to a relentless barrage of anti-China propaganda, increasingly people are able to see and understand certain powerful facts: that it’s the US and its allies that go round the world waging war and imposing domination, while China stands with the Global South; that it’s the US that’s failing to make meaningful progress addressing the climate crisis, while China has emerged as a global leader in green energy. In summary, “China is a progressive force, and the US is extremely regressive.”

Calla also addresses the attack on TikTok – an attack based on xenophobia, anticommunism, and a fear of China’s economic rise. However, this attack is having the opposite of its intended effect: “I think it’ll make the entire user base, which is hundreds of millions of people, even more skeptical of the US government’s narrative on TikTok and on China as a whole.”

The anti-China onslaught in the U.S. doesn’t seem to be having the desired effect on its younger population. A recent survey by The Economist and YouGov reveals that younger Americans are friendlier to China than their older counterparts. Nearly a quarter of Americans aged 18 to 44 view China as “friendly,” only 4 percent of Americans above the age of 45 view China this way.

The report comes amid the U.S. efforts to ban TikTok, a video app that has become a craze among American youth in recent years. At the Congressional hearing of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, U.S. lawmakers couldn’t hide their racism and xenophobia.

To understand how a large number of young Americans are contesting the anti-China narrative within the U.S., CGTN spoke with Calla Walsh, a youth anti-war activist who is on the board of Massachusetts Peace Action and one of the co-chairs of the National Network on Cuba.

Edited Excerpts:

CGTN: Let me ask you the question that The Economist-YouGov poll asked its respondents: Do you consider China to be a friendly nation or an enemy of the United States?

Walsh: China is not our enemy and I’m among the substantial group of young people in the U.S. that sees China as a friend. And I see China not only as a friend, but as a global leader that is really paving the way to a more peaceful and multi-polar world where all countries have a right to sovereignty, instead of living under the yoke of the United States. And it’s really hard to buy the U.S. demonization of China as this existential threat when in the past several decades the U.S. is the country that has committed hundreds of military interventions and invasions.

And I think young people can see through these warmongering lies that the U.S. is spreading about China. And we can also see China is actually delivering on the issues we care about, for example, climate. [U.S. President Joe] Biden is signing off on the willow project; he’s breaking his campaign promises to stop new drilling on federal land while China’s leading the world and reducing carbon emissions, building green infrastructure. So it’s very easy to tell China is a progressive force, and the U.S. is extremely regressive.

CGTN: Does the poll indicate that we are witnessing a slow but gradual generational change in perception about China?

Walsh: I think there is a slow generational shift in how we regard China and how we regard U.S. imperialism as a whole. We are not the generation of the first Cold War against the Soviet Union. I think our generation has been much more shaped by social movements that have really made us more skeptical of the U.S. government narrative on things. We’re the generation of these mass mobilizations against Climate Change, against gun violence, against racism and police brutality. And young people are becoming more civically engaged, having record-breaking voter turnout, and I think we’re much more skeptical of the U.S. government because of the failures on those issues I just mentioned.

CGTN: How do you see the ongoing targeting of TikTok? How will the Congressional hearing of the TikTok CEO affect the view of its user base?

Walsh: The ongoing targeting of TikTok is very much xenophobic, and red-scare tactic. And just when I’ve logged on to TikTok in the past few days, I’ve seen lots of popular accounts, ones that are even apolitical, that are calling this hearing a witch hunt. They’re mocking U.S. Congress members, for not even understanding how the internet works. So it’s really putting into light how ridiculous this anti-China propaganda is. And I think that’ll make the entire user base which is hundreds of millions of people even more skeptical of the U.S. government’s narrative on TikTok and on China as a whole.

And of course the U.S. government literally mass spies on its own citizens. So we know this isn’t about privacy at all. And other U.S. social media companies, like Meta, engage in very harmful data sharing practices. So what we should be talking about is why the U.S. really is doing this and that’s because of the economic competition that China poses.

The sound of the new war drum goes Tik-Tok

In the following article, which originally appeared on the CODEPINK Medium blog, Wei Yu, Nuvpreet Kalra and Melissa Garriga of CODEPINK and its China is Not Our Enemy campaign, counter the hypocrisy of the United States’ campaign against TikTok, whose CEO Shou Zi Chew, was recently subjected to a five-hour grilling in a Congressional hearing that often bore more resemblance to a racist and anti-communist lynching than a dispassionate enquiry by professional politicians. Drawing a stark comparison, the authors note:

“Ten years ago, Edward Snowden told the whole world the truth about the US global surveillance programs. If Congress cares about our digital privacy, it should first begin by investigating the surveillance policies of its own US agencies. The campaign against TikTok is a fear-mongering tactic to wage war on China.”

They further detail how the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) use social media to spy on Black Lives Matter protestors and a range of others, including the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities. ” Unlike China,” they note, “as well as other Western countries, such as the EU, the US does not have any digital privacy laws on the federal level…

“The ongoing effort to investigate and ban TikTok is not about our privacy, but about fuelling more aggression against China. Fearmongering about China has also caused the rise of anti-Asian racism in the US.”

Last Thursday, a Congressional hearing took place where the TikTok CEO was grilled for five hours on the grounds of “security concerns.” This was days after the FBI and DOJ launched an investigation on the Chinese-owned American company. Isn’t it ironic that while the US government is putting TikTok under the magnifying glass, it’s turning a blind eye to its own surveillance programs on the American people?

Ten years ago, Edward Snowden told the whole world the truth about the US global surveillance programs. If Congress cares about our digital privacy, it should first begin by investigating the surveillance policies of its own US agencies. The campaign against TikTok is a fear-mongering tactic to wage war on China.

In 2020, the FBI used social media to monitor racial justice protesters who were targeted for arrests. For example, activist Mike Avery was arrested after posting about protests on Facebook, and his charges were dropped without explanation a few weeks later. An FBI official was so frustrated with the extensive social media surveillance that he told the Intercept, “Man, I don’t even know what’s legal anymore.”

The dissonance between accusing TikTok of security concerns and working with other companies to invade people’s privacy rings loudly in our ears.

Social media has long been a tool used by federal agencies to target individuals and communities designated as “threat.” The Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement have monitored the social media activities of immigrant rights activists. The State Department used social media screening to discriminate against the Muslim, Arab, Middle Eastern, and South Asian communities under the Trump administration’s “Muslim ban.”

Only last year that the post-9/11 NSA phone surveillance program was reported to have shut down. Major telecom companies like Verizon gave the government access to hundreds of millions of calls and texts. Dataminr, a startup Twitter partner, provided police with data about BLM protests. One focus on ‘potential gang members’ targeted Black and Latinx people, including school-aged children.

Meta’s subsidiary WhatsApp was reportedly used by the Saudi government to hack journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s phone. Meanwhile, Meta itself used a VPN to spy on users’ smartphones for market research in exchange for bribes. Yet WhatsApp is not banned on government devices.

If our lawmakers are concerned about protecting digital privacy, then Congress should start with investigating American federal agencies. Unlike China as well as other Western countries, such as the EU, the US does not have any digital privacy laws on the federal level. The US could cooperate with China to better ensure people’s privacy is protected, instead of driving fear to target one single social media platform.

The ongoing effort to investigate and ban TikTok is not about our privacy, but about fueling more aggression against China. Fear-mongering about China has also caused the rise of anti-Asian racism in the US. In banning TikTok, the US is projecting its invasive policies onto another government. Warmongers are using the issue to create paranoia and justify even more aggression towards China.

It is not a coincidence that these recent bans have come about shortly after a Chinese weather balloon was shot down over the US. Privacy concerns are being used to wage war on China. The US should focus on passing federal data privacy laws instead of targeting one app. Double standards and warmongering against China need to stop. China is not our enemy.

Tell Congress to stop using TikTok to drive fear and war towards China!