China's Brand
The Uyghurs pictured above wear masks in protest of Chinese Communist censorship and human rights abuses. According to the People’s Republic of China, the Uyghur minority is to be assimilated into Chinese culture. And resistance is futile.
I normally don’t like diving into the political realm. Fruitless debates bore me. Our mission at Beyond the Hype is to shift your awareness and China’s Communist Party or (CCP) is a pristine opportunity. What does the CCP's brand stand for? What is the CCP's brand history?
I am referring to the EXACT same Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who came into power on October 1, 1949. Through the CCP’s inspired leadership, they caused the deaths of 49-78 million of their own people due to starvation and waves of Maoist “assimilation” referred to as the purges, Great Leap Forward, and Cultural Revolution. It is important to add the American casualty count in the Cold War era’s Korean conflict to the CCP’s vast death toll.
As a way of edifying this post, in the 20th century, the CCP (Communist) ranks #1 in genocide. Soviets (Communist) #2. The Nazis (National Socialists) rank #3. The CCP has a lot of blood on its hands.
Historical links: an exhibition in Beijing. Xi Jinping, right, compares himself with Mao Zedong, left, and Deng Xiaoping, second left, but disregards interim figures Jiang Zemin, center, and Hu Jintao, second right – Photo – Jason Lee/Reuters ) October 2021
As a big believer in freedom, equal rights, and self-determination I am aghast by the lack of public outcry in the US over the Chinese government’s treatment of the residents of Hong Kong and the ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs. The Chinese Communists program of assimilation is a grievous human rights violation barely drawing the ire of those with the biggest megaphones in America. I wonder why?
As I am writing this piece, the Biden Administration has announced “no official delegation would be sent to the (2022 Winter Olympic) Games in Beijing because of concerns about China’s human rights record.” But the administration said, “US athletes could attend the games and would have the government’s full support.”
Well done Mr. President. I applaud you.
Back to my message. Let’s define the word: As·sim·i·late /əˈsiməˌlāt/ Verb – “cause (something) to resemble; liken”.
Wall Street Journal (9/24/2021) KORLA, China—Chinese authorities have seized and sold at auction tens of millions of dollars in assets owned by jailed Uyghur business owners amid a broad government campaign to assimilate ethnic minorities in the country’s northwest Xinjiang region. Since 2019, Xinjiang courts have put at least 150 assets—ranging from home appliances to real estate and company shares—belonging to at least 21 people and valued at a total $84.8 million up for auction on e-commerce sites.
Assimilate? Didn’t go so well for the dissident Chinese in Mao’s day. Maybe the Uyghurs will fair better. Pictured below is a vocational skills education center in the Uyghur Autonomous Region. Hmm?
A perimeter fence is constructed around what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China (September 4, 2018) REUTERS/Thomas Peter
I believe I have seen centers like the one in Dabancheng before. But where? Hmm? Oh, yes I remember, in Poland and Germany as artifacts of another totalitarian regime.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
We forget, Communists don’t subscribe to the rule of law. Or quibble with the trivialities of seizing individual property. Law-abiding Chinese can be disappeared from local streets for rubbing their overloads the wrong way. A Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, whose disappearance would have attracted little attention except for the efforts of her colleagues in the tennis world like Serena Willians, is one case in point.
Chinese regulators are cracking down on celebrities and their fans on the grounds that online hordes create “chaos” and promote “extravagant pleasure”. The Cyberspace Administration of China released a set of rules to regulate celebrities, as well as their advertising and fan groups, as part of President Xi Jinping’s drive to reform social values.
The CAC authority railed against “the supremacy of [internet] traffic” and “abnormal aesthetics” for deteriorating “mainstream values” in Chinese society. I believe in self-determination and do most Americans. The Chinese people have every right to run their country as they see fit without my, or my country’s interference. I get it. Perfect.
HOWEVER.
I have the right to treat the CCP and China as a brand, and consciously not buy goods made there. To treat China as I would any American brand caught using sweatshop labor or being party to human rights abuse. I am not xenophobic. I am a fan of the Chinese people and their long-storied culture. But I am not a fan of CCP rule. Accordingly, I am making a conscious choice not to support a country, whose ruling party for 70 plus years has, and will continue to abuse human lives on an epic scale. But that’s me. My line in the sand so to speak.
According to Pew Research, many Americans sense the problem. And the response is bi-partisan. Finally, something we can all agree on.
Until next time.