The Chinese government recently put out a video titled “If you wanted China to be changed like those (countries, such as Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Libya and Turkey), please walk all over us.” After presenting images of war-torn countries, the video argues that “behind all these things, we can see the deep shadow of the star-spangled banner.” In another video that targets young Chinese, human rights dissidents and their families and friends are portrayed as a part of a Western plot to undermine the authority of the Chinese government, and the United States is accused of provoking trouble and conspiring against China.
These two pieces, posted on official websites, accuse the United States of plotting to overthrow other countries’ governments and causing wars and poverty. Although the media in the U.S., as usual, are ignoring such propaganda, I cannot remain silent.
As a Chinese national living in the United States, I have first-hand life experience in this country and am thankful for the great generosity of this nation, which promotes liberty and justice for all.
In the propaganda videos, the Chinese Communist Party says that the United Stated attempted to “darken China”.
From Communist China’s perspective, “darkening China” means the support the United States gives Chinese human rights activists condemned or imprisoned for charges of subversion. For instance, “darkening China” means that President Obama did not shy away from meeting with the Dalai Lama; “darkening China” means that the American Bar Association (ABA) chose not to be “morally neutral” – whatever happened to the formerly universal principles of right and wrong?- and gave the International Human Rights Award to Wang Yu, a human rights lawyer detained and tortured in China; “darkening China” means when Congressman Chris Smith advocates for a relationship between the U.S. and China that prioritizes human rights and democratic governance in China, and presses China to free the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (Liu Xiaobo) and other imprisoned political dissidents. Another instances of “darkening China” were when Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, boldly condemned before the United States Congress and the European Parliament the draconian population control policies in China a systematic, state-sponsored violence against women; or when the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a U.S. non-profit organization, funded projects to promote democracy in Hong Kong after the Chinese Communist Party walked back its promise that Hong Kong would maintain the democratic system for 100 years.
These are only a few cases, but enough to prove that the accusations of “darkening China” are far from being true. The United States, as any other country, is not a perfect society, but is no doubt a nation that cares deeply for freedom and justice for people all over the world.
The United States, the “greatest nation on earth” (as both Hillary Clinton and Mrs. Obama recently admitted), always speaks out for the persecuted and courageously confronts dictatorships and tyrannies. I see these actions as a direct result of that American spirit deeply rooted in the foundation of this country. The American spirit is based on the principle that all human beings “are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
In contrast, China – a country ruled by a government that does not respect the rights and basic dignity of its own people – is really “dark.” The country is “dark” when the government brutally crushes the yearning of its citizens for fundamental freedoms, i.e., freedom of speech, religion and association. China is “dark” for it is becoming “a garrison state,” where police are empowered to silence dissent and the government “drove a wedge between the Chinese people and the international community” (Congressman Chris Smith).
It is not possible for China to be further “darkened” by anyone, as the Communist Party has been darkening the Chinese people’s life long enough. What is possible and desirable instead, is for China to be “brightened” by “the Star-Spangled Banner,” so that a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
Notes:
http://www.china.com.cn/v/news/2016-08/02/content_39004188.htm.