The Great (Fire)Wall
The U.S TikTok ban signifies the repetition of racist anti-China propaganda.
It’s 1949…
And anti-Chinese sentiment has become a permanent fixture in the media of the Western world and other anti-communist countries. Following the establishment of the PRC, a legacy of Sinophobia would be imposed upon a growing power.
As we’ve seen with other legacies inflicted by imperialist powers, this one would last right up until the moment that I’m writing todays piece, and whether we’re living in the 40’s or the 2020’s, the narrative of the great Chinese threat is a thread that has remained constantly and carefully woven into the words spouted in western media, out of the mouths of western politicians and written into our history books, so that we might never question such meticulously laid plans.
So why is it that when we hear that the impending TikTok ban is supposed to save Americans from the ‘Chinese threat of stolen data’ we’re so sceptical, and so mistrusting of those who have remained consistent in their approach? This much remains to be discovered or uncovered in the space that I have here.
(I’m curious as to where we’ll end up).
I wish I could say that the clear evidence of bias and hostility performed by the mainstream western media’s portrayal of China merely showcased a profound lack of understanding and impartial reporting. However, the way in which efforts to counter this bias have faced significant hurdles due to censorship and the dominance of a global narrative indicates entirely the opposite. Somehow, positive news about China is conspicuously absent from global media outlets, overshadowed by a deluge of negative stories that often lack substantive evidence and rely on unfounded beliefs portraying China as a global threat. Media outlets frequently intertwine China with various global events, painting the country in a negative light and stoking fear among Western nations, and in walks "yellow peril" narratives.
There exists a prevailing sentiment in Western media that China's ascendance must be restrained by any means necessary, in a similar way to which the progress of other rising nations has been impeded because of necessary restrain, disregarding their rights and aspirations. Entrenched in a hegemonic worldview, Western media demonizes China while legitimizing Western dominance, and this dual approach would prove extremely successful.
It's 2019.
And Covid-19 would arm western powers: the United States and her more quietly racist cousin, the United Kingdom with a new tool in the consistent effort to conduct in the ongoing propaganda war against China. This is the time where prominent and respectable news outlets would turn culprit to this crime, where newspapers like The New York Times (NYT) stood out for its audacious and dishonest reporting on China.
I remember reading about one example is the NYT's false claim that China's fail-safe system for tracking contagions had failed due to fear of reporting bad news. But contrary to such allegations, China's response to Covid-19 was swift and effective, resulting in the saving of millions of lives. This didn’t matter though, because by now the ideological lies propagated about China had spread faster than the virus itself.
‘The Chinese Virus’ he called it…
President Trump whilst appearing outlandish and sporadic for his racist labelling, was also guilty of lacking in tact as he spoke words that reflected the overarching western sentiment held about an ‘unclean’ people to the east. Should his words failed to align with core American values, the surge in Asian hate that proceeded would not have occurred. But it’s almost as if this rallying cry was one long awaited for by those with some kind of racist agenda to act upon, and east-Asian citizens would suffer everywhere as a result.
The language used by both Trump and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo along with metaphors like "foreign virus," perpetuated anti-immigrant sentiments and fear of outsiders, further exacerbating divisions in a time where isolation was the background for the lives of most people. Trump’s use of this war metaphor allowed deflection from blame for his own lack of action when it came to Covid, and instead he could position himself as a hero, yet his intent remained focused on manipulating the narrative and evading responsibility for the consequences of his actions.
Theoretically, the lessons that should have been learned from the racism perpetuated during the pandemic were those of the critical importance of truth, science, cooperation, and responsible journalism. But unfortunately, it’s clear we haven’t learned our lesson,
(I might not be here writing this way if we had).
It’s 2024.
And Reuters just released an exclusive: ‘Trump launched CIA covert influence operation against China’.
In response to China's expanding global influence, particularly through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative, which according to the EBRD would “seek to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks with the aim of improving regional integration”, the Trump administration would authorize a clandestine campaign by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to undermine the Chinese government's public image.
And suddenly, narratives spread back in 2019 appear even more insidious (if it was even possible).
According to Reuters, this operation, initiated in 2019 and revealed by former U.S. officials, involved creating a team of operatives to spread negative narratives about Xi Jinping's government on Chinese social media platforms. The CIA aimed to fuel paranoia among Chinese leaders, diverting their attention and resources towards countering perceived threats on the internet. While specifics of the operations remain undisclosed, the campaign focused on portraying Chinese Communist Party members as corrupt and criticizing China's global initiatives. This move marked a return to Cold War-era tactics back in 1949. The Trump administration's authorization of these operations, crafted by senior officials like Matt Pottinger, underscored growing concerns about China's geopolitical strategies and its impact on U.S. national security. As the Biden administration sits in office, questions linger about the continuity of these covert activities, but I have no questions. The very real possibility of the US TikTok ban signifies a continued approach to maintaining the power threatened by the ability to evade western censorship with the way in which information and education is so easily spread on this app, because for once, familiar hands were left out of it’s creation.
I’m not even sure if it’s worth entertaining the notion that the US government want to ban TikTok in the states in order to protect the data of it’s citizens, but for argument’s sake I’ll quickly discuss why this idea simply follows the former rhetoric.
We know by now that the US employs several methods to obtain data. Whether this is using extensive surveillance programs like the NSA's PRISM, monitoring internet communications, or whether this involves ‘backdoor access’, where tech companies create vulnerabilities in their products, allowing authorities to bypass security measures. In case you’re unaware of these methods, the chances are you’re more familiar with ‘cookies’, which essentially constitute legal data requests, and let’s not forget the Facebook scandal of 2014. I apologise for potentially boring you with this information, but my point here is to highlight the hypocrisy in the whole Chinese surveillance idea, which would only help further propagate the perception of the Chinese for being an ever-expanding and ‘dangerous’ threat to western civilians.
In reality, many speculate that the TikTok ban is the result of a failed plan to buy TikTok, allowing the US to better censor and control the information being spread. Whilst there has been talk of a ban for a while, the speed with which the bill was able to get passed through to the supreme court signifies a desire to censor information being spread right now. With the current adversity against those heavily involved with the genocide in Gaza, radicalisation through the spreading of information and discourse is prevalent on the app now, which explains the sudden need to remove it from the US entirely.
This brings me to answering that question I asked earlier:
Why are we so sceptical now?
Perhaps they’re simply too late this time.
With the amount of discussion circulating online right now, it was only a matter of time before we began to ask questions. Besides, the moment you let up an approach inconsistent with reality, and cracks begin to show, it’s only a matter of time before the entire thing breaks wide open…
Asisa
Sources
https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/anti-china-rhetoric-is-off-the-charts-in-western-media/ The diplomat – “Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media”
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-launched-cia-covert-influence-operation-against-china-2024-03-14/ Reuters – “Exclusive: Trump launched CIA covert influence operation against China”.
Asisa thank you for writing this 🤍