this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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I also find the whole narrative of Chinese corporations being nefariously state driven hilarious given that US literally does exact same thing with their corps.
I struggle to come up with any criticism that the west directs at China that isn't projection. The entire subsidies narrative is completely absurd. When China invests less in an industry it's "China's state capitalism can't keep up with the free market". When China invests more it's " China's unfair state capitalism is disastrous to international markets".
I’m a sinoboo but I’m willing to play Devil’s Advocate:
1 Urban versus rural divide is still harsh. The big cities look like they live in the future but a great deal of the nation still lives in underdeveloped areas in the countryside.
2 While a lot better than it used to be, air pollution can still be rather bad.
3 Population growth is still too low.
4 Too much of the new national wealth is tied up in real estate (which is a shitty industry for the health of a nation).
5 While it’s to prevent CIA led coups, separatist movements and/or color revolutions… the security state is rather stifling and civil rights are cast aside.
6 Poor soft power projection since the arts where largely abandoned by society with the Dengist government. They lack “anime”, or “Kpop” to push their narrative into the world. Lately the CPC has been promoting more domestically produced movies but they really need to step up their game.
7 Their LGBTQ+ rights are garbage, and honestly it’s inexcusable.
"Poor soft power projection" is just revealed a most blatantly western lens when it comes to assessing a nation's culture. The idea of "soft power" as if its a good thing only works if you see your own cultural artforms and media to be superior to those of others, and subsequently end up supplanting that of a "weaker" culture. US "soft power" only serves to stifle local culture by overshadowing it with foreign US media and norms, and in some cases eradicating the interest and cultural norms of a people (particularly in the youth). Most Europeans all follow the same fashion, watch the same films and listen to the same music, much of which comes from the US, and this is supposedly a good thing? I'd say that regardless of who's doing it, this sort of "power projection" isn't something to yearn for.