While some US political forces keep inciting hostility against China, and an inherited Sino-skepticism that has continually caused rising antagonism and discrimination against the Chinese, and by extension, other Asian communities, the Global Times found that there are many Americans turning to take off these hate-tinted glasses to view the Chinese government as they witnessed massive differences in people's wellbeing, security and epidemic control in the two countries.
They are calling for an end to biased, demonized portrayals of China and relentless China-bashing campaigns led by the US government which they believe have set the stage for racial violence and hatred against Asian people in the US.
Despite that rampant Sinophobia in the larger US political discourse has exponentially increased since the Trump administration, some US Socialists continue to maintain a rational and sober approach to the Communist Party of China (CPC), and put China's actual achievements and successful social experiences under the leadership of the CPC within the right context. They recognize the endemic logical and people-centered concepts of the CPC, far from the antagonism-dominated factions of Western political spheres.
Tourists enjoy spring at the Daming Lake in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province. Photo: IC
'Red scare' propagandaRepeated outbreaks of anti-Asian attacks since the pandemic exposed the latent, simmering vestiges of hatred against China in American society.
Brian Becker, founder and central organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the US, also executive director at Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) which has chapters in 25 cities in the US, has initiated and organized several mass demonstrations across the US to stand up against anti-Asia racism.
He told the Global Times that they are experiencing a witch-hunt atmosphere inside the US against China, and against anyone who challenges the mainstream narrative that has now been embraced by dominant sections of the US ruling class.
"This narrative is that the government of the People's Republic of China poses an existential threat to the United States and the existing 'world order.' This narrative creates an attitude that China should be both feared and hated. Not so subtly, this narrative implies that the Chinese people living in the US should not and cannot be trusted," said Becker.
For the last 150 years, there has been a conflation of Chinese people with other East Asian nationalities inside the US, thus all Asian-Americans are now vulnerable to being the victims of hate crimes, he said.
The constant barrage of negative portrayals and coverage of China by US politicians and the media, on a wide range of issues, has predictably led to a dramatic shift in public opinion over the past decades. A Pew Research survey released on March 4 shows that nearly half (47 percent) of Americans feel "very cold" toward China - rating it below 25 on the 100-point scale - which is around twice as many as that in 2018 (23 percent). Similarly, the share of Americans who give China the lowest possible rating of zero has nearly tripled, from 9 percent in 2018 to around a quarter (24 percent) in 2021."
There have been rising numbers of malevolent crimes against Asians since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, peaking with the death of six Asian women in fatal Atlanta shootings in March. This change in public attitude, in Becker's view, is a consequence of an ongoing campaign by the corporate-owned media and American politicians who lob endless points of derision about China and then blame China for the COVID-19 pandemic.
"But now liberal Democrats are being attracted to the anti-China campaign because they are being told that China acts like monster toward minority peoples in Xinjiang. The corporate-owned media in the US have become masters in the art of mass demonization campaigns that create hatred and fear toward whichever country is next on the US target list," said Becker.
He suggested that the issue of "human rights" is now at the very top of the list when Americans cite their reasons for regarding China negatively. But the fact is "very few people in the United States know anything about China and an even smaller number know anything at all about Xinjiang. If anything, profound ignorance reigns supreme."
Becker concluded that negative attitudes regarding China's human rights issues are the result of the US "regurgitating the spoon-fed propaganda images and headlines that conjure up the impression that China is engaged in 'genocide' against Muslims and minority people similar to the crime of genocide practiced by Nazi Germany."
Clay, a US political observer who requested anonymity, also recognizes such "Red Scare propaganda" and Sinophobia is becoming rampant in the US. He believes that the US media and government have weaponized Cold War politics once again to further escalate tensions between Americans and the Chinese.
"Obama, Trump, and now Biden see Chinese and American people's livelihoods as chess pieces on a board and are more than willing to sacrifice any number of them through sanctions to economically attack China," said Clay. Little do those in Washington, DC know that these sanctions hurt the US economy far more than China's, and will only cause unnecessary hurt for all involved, he told the Global Times.
People march during a "Stop Asian Hate" rally in downtown Detroit, Michigan on March 27, as part of a nationwide protest in solidarity against hate crimes directed towards Asian Americans. Photo: AFP
CPC core of the human-centered developmentThese US observers reached by the Global Times agree that the CPC's efficient governance is the common root of China winning the war to contain the contagious COVID-19 and to eradicate extreme poverty among other tasks.
"When I was with a [Chinese] communist party member I learned how China avoids the worst effects of recessions that plague capitalist countries. For Americans like me who have lived through two major economic crises in their lifetimes, this matters. If more in the US left knew how inclusive China's Two Sessions are or how Chinese law tilts in favor of workers when it comes to labor disputes, it'd be harder for politicians and the media to gaslight Americans into thinking China is some heartless dystopia," C.A. Mitchell, a US writer and comedian, told the Global Times.
Criticizing the US for falsely depicting China as homophobic and apathetic about the environment, Mitchell said he believes that the CPC is making efforts for progressive gains in China from protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community and punishing polluters who falsify emission reports.
"You don't have to be a communist to recognize the CPC's sociopolitical achievements for China's and the world's working class over the last century. While it certainly has room to reform and improve, the CPC is responsible for programs that lifted 800 million people out of poverty within China. China has achieved universal healthcare which includes free care. All pandemic-related treatment is free. If you exclude China from the world map, you lose more than a quarter of the world's renewable energy consumption," said Mitchell.
Even though the West turns a blind eye to these facts, Mitchell, who spent several years in China, recognizes the CPC's efforts in encouraging ethnic minorities to get into politics and govern their own communities. The CPC negotiated the expansion of the popular vote in Hong Kong, which the British had denied to the city's residents up until the 1990s, he argued.
Clay told the Global Times that people are beginning to witness the inefficiencies of the US government compared to the government in China. "Even those US jingoists and Western chauvinists have to admit that China is doing something right economically, while the US has been mostly stagnant. I believe this is causing people to look for alternatives, which means much of the youth is more favorable towards communism," said Clay.
"Chinese communists and North American communists have a long history of friendship and trading ideas, stretching back to the Black Panthers, and other exceptional people like Norman Bethune; though the US government keeps on trying to encourage Sinophobic tensions, I couldn't be prouder to work with my Chinese counterparts and follow this revolutionary legacy," Clay told the Global Times.
A Gallup poll in 2018 found 51 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 view socialism positively. A YouGov poll from 2019 found more than a third of millennials and more than a quarter of Gen Z have a "somewhat favorable view of communism." An Axios poll from the same year revealed 55 percent of American women aged 18 to 54 would rather live in a socialist country than a capitalist one.
"Many young Americans are disillusioned with capitalism. My generation earns 20 percent less than our parents did. We've lived through two financial crises thanks to the destruction of the New Deal during the Reagan and Clinton presidencies. We have friends who have died because they can't afford medicine or to see a doctor on time," said Mitchell.
US Socialists anticipate a heightened part-to-party communication between the US and China which they think can help with direct diplomacy and the currently strained ties between two governments.
These young socialists see the shared interests in climate change and combating corruption as a common goal.
Clay recognized that anti-corruption activities in China have been inspiring for many communists who use the state as a revolutionary example of leadership directed by the people which can be learned by many countries including the US. "To see a thriving socialist state with a firm grip on corruption is a breath of fresh air," he said.