Kaiser Kuo is an apologist for the Communist Party for the following reasons.
Firstly, he tends to promote a theme that we should have empathy for the Chinese people based on their brutal history of imperialism and self inflicted wounds, which I think many people can agree with at first glance, even myself. However, implicit in this claim is if you advocate human rights for the Chinese people, regardless of your political orientation, you do not have empathy for them and are engaging in cultural imperialism.
On the contrary, promoting democratization and human rights for China is a fundamental aspect of having empathy for the Chinese people, especially because it’s what most of them want. According a survey conducted by prominent sinologists called ‘How East Asians View Democracy’, 72.3 percent of the Chinese public polled said they believed that democracy is "desirable for our country now," and 67 percent said that democracy is "suitable for our country now.” And, even for those Chinese who oppose democratization, it would be ridiculous not to attempt to persuade them otherwise because it would improve their quality of life, especially in regards to labor rights. In regards to “cultural imperialism”, it’s not like McDonalds and Cocacola warships parked off the coast of Canton and started another Opium War. It was Deng Xiaoping et. al.’s decision to open up China and expose their population to new ideas the developed world had to offer. It is apologetic to ignore the aforementioned points because it legitimizes the horrible things the Communist Party does against the better interests of their populace.
Secondly, on his associated Facebook page, he routinely allows the political views of many indoctrinated mainland Chinese and their sympathizers to take precedence over anyone who promotes human rights. It’s ok with him if a mainland Chinese person advocates that the South China Sea belongs to China. However, those who argue for democratization and human rights are barraged with condescending remarks about not having empathy and engaging in cultural imperialism. They are often not given space to fully argue their point and are gaslighted and cursed at.
Thirdly, in direct conversations with Kaiser, he has claimed that well documented human rights abuses happening in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and on the mainland are hyperbole in western media, along with how China is constantly threatening Taiwan with military invasion. He has also mentioned that the Communist Party’s degradation of Hong Kong’s One Country, Two Systems policy does not matter to him. This perspective is bewildering considering it’s nearly impossible to get accurate news about these topics in mainland China, with outside sources being the only option. How someone could not care about Hong Kong being absorbed into the mainland is unsettling.
Finally, underlying every one of the aforementioned points is a degree of racism towards those who are non Han-Chinese and especially white. Used within the context of Kaiser et. al., the term “cultural imperialism” implies an action that only white westerners do under the guise of democratization. Apparently, the multiple times China imperialized its neighbors throughout history, the tributary system, the annexation of periphery regions, threatening Taiwan with invasion, building islands in the South China Sea, and concentration camps in Xinjiang do not count. The concept that a white person may have a compelling argument for why China should democratize and have human rights does not seem conceivable them. Kaiser has never experienced China as someone who is not ethnically Chinese, so he has never felt the the full burden of institutional racism taking place against non Han-Chinese under the regime, thus limiting his perspective.
In conclusion, Kaiser should realize that promoting human rights for China is a fundamental aspect of having empathy for the Chinese people and to ignore this is being apologetic for the CCP. He should realize that the company he keeps is a reflection of who he is and, so far, it’s not good company if human rights is what he truly values. He should also develop his media literacy skills. I hope his racism will end. I say this as someone who worked and lived in developing mainland China for almost ten years, has Chinese family, is literate in the Chinese language, is well educated in the social sciences, is a secular anti-imperialist democratic socialist, and identify in part as Chinese.
