Why are Americans up in arms over China?

[Ticj]

Empathy? This isn't a crisis, the Chinese are bickering with the Chinese.

A crisis is Turkey invading Syria. A crisis is Libya enslaving Nigerians. These are real issues....

China enslaves and harvests organs from their ethnic minorities. Protesters are disappearing and later being found in rivers. This isn't just 'bickering'

[Ivanstone]

Hong Kong is predominantly populated by the han too.

There's a language difference. The majority of China speaks Mandarin. Cantonese is the dominant language in Hong Kong.

[D3thray]

A lot of the earlier waves of Chinese immigrants came from Hong Kong or Guangdong. My family for example. And even if they didn’t, I can assure you they’re following the events in Hong Kong closely. Personally idgaf if 90% of the people of Hong Kong, myself included, are Han; race doesn’t matter, China cracking down on freedoms does.

[NED funded]

I mean China can censor and push their own geopolitical delusions on their own population as much as they want. The problem is that American companies are censoring Americans over comments that do not push China's geopolitical agenda, not even morals or religion. Just their geopolitical ambitions.

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Even similar races when grown apart often become their own culture and eventually treated as a separate ethnicity hence "hong kongnese" and not "chinese"

^^^

This too. Classic example is divide between SKs and NKs.

[Freighter]

This too. Classic example is divide between SKs and NKs.

They're still Korean to us, you know.

[Ivanstone]

That doesn't make them not han. Themius said they are ethnically diverse but han make up more than 90% of the population. Not very diverse.

Sometimes ethnicity is used as shorthand for a different culture. English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish could all be argued to be the same "ethnicity" but alot of times they're not.

[draynay]

they don't give a crap about America and certainly wouldn't boycott Blizzard games for you either?

Nobody has to boycott anything, the government would just ban the thing, and so Blizzard, and companies like them, will do whatever China wants to ensure that doesn't happen. This is the problem, I don't like totalitarian governments dictating company policy and am not interested in patronizing those companies.

[Monster Hunter]

Empathy? This isn't a crisis, the Chinese are bickering with the Chinese.

A crisis is Turkey invading Syria. A crisis is Libya enslaving Nigerians. These are real issues....

The Chinese arn't all the same you know, there's multiple ethnic groups in China, many of which or persicuted like uyghur and Tibetans or they are left in poverty like the Mongolians, then there's special regions like Hongkong and Macau that are multicultural with southeast Asians, Europeans, Arabs and others all mixed in to create a unique culture and values seperate from the dominant han Chinese communists.

Aside from the fact you shouldn't ignore injustice just because it's within one country, the idea that it's Chinese on Chinese is wrong because there's multiple groups of people under China's rule who don't define them selves as China and the un gives the human right of self determination.

Just as i support catalan and basque, and Scotland in wanting to go independant if they decode to, I also support Hongkong and Taiwan in there efforts.

And it is not right for an American company, a company from a country that its self faught to become independant from a large empire even though they were at the time them selves indistinguishable from being British. To punish people for wanting and striving to do the same by what ever means nessesary and avaliable to them.

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Sometimes ethnicity is used as shorthand for a different culture. English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish could all be argued to be the same "ethnicity" but alot of times they're not.

Even in England there's no sush thing as English as an ethnicity other than for official papers, England its self is made up of a bunch of peoples that can all be classified as sub groups this being due to waves of immigration to Britain since the end of the ice age and the relative isolation groups lived in in the British Isles that has only really started to diminish in the last 50 or so years with modern transport.



Fake enthnicitys like English or Scottish have been used for ages now to often justify the rule of one group over others and oppress them because it seems more acceptable if those oppressed are seen as the same people and it also helps to squash those people uniting under there own collective identity, its easier to excuse London rule and the impovering of the North for the last 50 years if you can ignore the north south cultural divides and multiple ethnic groups of the UK and box them under working class poor English.

[Rozz]

Sometimes ethnicity is used as shorthand for a different culture. English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish could all be argued to be the same "ethnicity" but alot of times they're not.

That's why it's always important to state if you're talking about racial/genetic-ethnicity, cultural ethnicity, or just their citizenry. The One-China policy makes this more complicated.

To answer the OP: It's what American citizens usually do (along with many other countries). Politicians or another group will present a point of similarity and encourage others to support them to protect that interest. For some others, they either have family there or people just want to protest any human rights violations they see

[Svifnymr]

Why are you Americans up in arms over China's dispute with their own kin when they don't give a crap about America and certainly wouldn't boycott Blizzard games for you either?

I think the issue is that America really isn't that up in arms over HK, or the Uighurs really. I don't think anyone really jumped up to applaud the NBA guy tweeting support for HK. I doubt anyone would have made a big deal about the Hearthstone guy showing support either. Sure, plenty of folks stay informed and have an opinion on the issues, same with many other issues.

The real problem and backlash is from the companies buckling to the Chinese pressure to censor those events. An NBA guy tweeting support for HK contrasted with the NBA organization and some of their biggest stars coming out to decry the tweet and rave about how they love China... that's a bit different.

[NED funded]

Over 90% are han though.

True but they absolutely hate each other and neither consider the other equal. There was a popular Weibo thread accusing HK protesters of not being "really chinese" and being descendents of vietnamese immigrants. In the same token, HK nativism is deffo a thing and they don't consider themeselves to be similar to mainland Chinese, you can find the videos of them being suspicious and harassing people that speak mandarin or have an accent.

[Warning]

Why are you Americans up in arms over China's dispute with their own kin when they don't give a crap about America and certainly wouldn't boycott Blizzard games for you either?

Not an American, but personally I have a strong distaste for authoritarians, corruption and genocide. In particular when a thuggish regime like that threatens a democratic and free people that I find it very easy to identify and agree with.

[Collegeguy]

At some point they'd have run out of people to torture and genocide. Expansion of influence is a guaranteed outcome of the former 2.

China is already expanding. Most agree that the South China Sea debate will eventually lead to war if China is very serious about it, and building islands is pretty serious.

[Monster Hunter]

Nobody has to boycott anything, the government would just ban the thing, and so Blizzard, and companies like them, will do whatever China wants to ensure that doesn't happen. This is the problem, I don't like totalitarian governments dictating company policy and am not interested in patronizing those companies.

Thats why the free HK mei is pritty genius. We can't force blizzard to go against there financial interests, but on the other hand we can push the Chinese communists to move in there own interests by making blizzard ip against there regime.

[mvaliz]

The other reason people are upset with China's government is their current imposition of their corrupt values upon our media, and our media bending knee to appease them for the sake of $$$.

That's the whole point of the Hearthstone Debackle, among many others. Because their government also starting to effect us.

[downnola]

Why does it matter what ethnicity they are?

It's the narcissism of small differences.

[PC2]

Why are you Americans up in arms over China's dispute with their own kin when they don't give a crap about America and certainly wouldn't boycott Blizzard games for you either?

Because China is an incredibly illiberal country, so if you like liberal values then you have to be anti-CCP.

Most people in China don't understand natural rights so they have no clue that they should be fighting for them at home and abroad.

[jeezusisacasual]

Are people being treated worse in Eritrea? Sure but Eritrea is not a rising global power willing to unseat the current world order so thus their crimes will go unnoticed for the time being. The protesters in Hong Kong or the Uyghurs being sent to camps is just a picture or face to the tyranny of the Chinese government and we should whatever gets the heart strings pulled to push them further down.

Do you want to live in a Chinese ran world order or a United States led one? I am sure you already know which side i am willing to pick but regardless this is the new cold war lets all hope that more international actors support starting more fires in Tianjin, Wuhan, Fuzhou and more to keep them occupied and less inclined to move on the international stage perhaps they would react with such force that the world starts to turn on them.

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The other reason people are upset with China's government is their current imposition of their corrupt values upon our media, and our media bending knee to appease them for the sake of $$$.

That's the whole point of the Hearthstone Debackle, among many others. Because their government also starting to effect us.

My only real complaint with Global Capitalism.

[Big Thanks]

Why are you Americans up in arms over China's dispute with their own kin when they don't give a crap about America and certainly wouldn't boycott Blizzard games for you either?

What exactly is your logic here? Could you explain?
You say "dispute with their own kin" makes everything alright?

Hong Kong has freedom of speech because they signed a contract that expires in 2047.
Yes, in 2047 Hong Kong will probably lose ALL freedom.

Not only that, it ALMOST lost freedom BEFORE 2047 as they tried to pass a Law to judge in court people OF HONG KONG in MAINLAND CHINA.
Making effectively CHinese laws in Hong Kong. (same thing)

If it wasnt for the protests, Hong Kong would lose freedom BEFORE 2047.

Dont you feel empathy for people without freedom? Just because is their own "kin"? Whatever that means?

[Puzzlesocks]

So? They are still the same people. Same kin. Nigerians have many different tribes with different beliefs, they fight among each other over these things but its not a worldwide crisis. Cause they are still all nigerians at the end of the day.

The people of Hong Kong are still Chinese

No offense, but this is like saying people from Alabama are the same as Californians. Or perhaps that New Yorkers are the same as people in Montana. It would be nice to believe that we are all carbon copy people with the same abilities and desires, but we just aren't. Not mentally, not physically, not spiritually.

As far as the topic in question, I have no idea why other Americans are worried about sticking their nose in the business of the rest of the world. I have more than enough on my plate between my own life, family, and country to be bothered with what people 6000+ miles away are doing. I can say the fault is due to global communication, but beyond that is beyond me.

In my opinion we have been too worried about zooming out to see 'the big picture' that we have lost focus. There are people who need to zoom back in on their own life and things they can actually affect. To put it simply; "Not my circus, not my monkeys."