One of the most important things we can do is intellectually insist on the separation of the concepts of "China" and "the PRC government".
Today, usage of the word "China" is interchangeable with the words "PRC government" both in colloquial use and in the minds of many people, particularly in China.
This makes it nearly impossible to hold a position that opposes the actions or positions of the PRC government without being seen as anti-China, and thus anti-the-people-of-China-and-their-best-interests (and holds an implied suggestion that the PRC is infallible).
Thus people, both inside and outside of China, who promote ideas like protecting the environment, freedom of speech, protecting the rights of landowners, or freedom of movement actually have Sinophobic ulterior motives and/or are trying to prevent the people of China from succeeding in the world. Viewing any differing opinion through this lens makes it nearly impossible to have honest discussions about a whole host of issues and allows the wholesale reduction of such arguments.
Until of course the PRC itself changes its position, at which point you should too.
this is very high-minded, and logical, but i'm sorry, but in my humble opinion the average person just doesn't have the raw intellectual horsepower to distinguish between 'ethnically chinese' and 'the government of the prc'. the press caters to these people, hence the ambiguation.
Scientologists subscribe to The Church of Scientology. It's a personal decision. Citizens are born into their nation. It is not a personal decision. Therefore, I cannot see the two as comparable. And I know lots of Chinese people who hate their government, societal structures, etc, because of all the problems that are inevitable from those Chinese norms. And that is corroboration for me that it is so easy.
This is not unique to China by any means, and it's one of the reasons I stop reading comments where "the U.S." (drones, genocide, just as bad, etc,.) isn't followed by "government".
The U.S. is different, though, because our government was created by the people, and we claim that its powers were delegated to it by us. In the U.S., the buck ultimately stops with us, the citizens.
China claims the same: it's a People's Republic, after all. Sure, there's a difference between a notionally meritocratic single-party system and a notionally democratic two-party system, but it's not quite as large as the average US history textbook would have you believe.
Today, usage of the word "China" is interchangeable with the words "PRC government" both in colloquial use and in the minds of many people, particularly in China.
This makes it nearly impossible to hold a position that opposes the actions or positions of the PRC government without being seen as anti-China, and thus anti-the-people-of-China-and-their-best-interests (and holds an implied suggestion that the PRC is infallible).
Thus people, both inside and outside of China, who promote ideas like protecting the environment, freedom of speech, protecting the rights of landowners, or freedom of movement actually have Sinophobic ulterior motives and/or are trying to prevent the people of China from succeeding in the world. Viewing any differing opinion through this lens makes it nearly impossible to have honest discussions about a whole host of issues and allows the wholesale reduction of such arguments.
Until of course the PRC itself changes its position, at which point you should too.