The Chinese Communist Party says
There’s no genocide in Xinjiang
And I totally believe them
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Well everyone, I was wrong.
There is no genocide in Xinjiang.
The Chinese Communist Party is not trying to eliminate the Uyghur ethnic minority.
Who are extremely happy all the time, especially when they dance.
How did I see the error of my ways?
Was it all of the YouTube comments calling me a CIA puppet?
Close.
It was this magnificent documentary.
Dating from remote antiquity, Xinjiang has been an integral and inseparable part of the
Chinese territory.
And indeed, a land of special significance.
Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, under the exceptional care the
Party and the central government have devoted, with the generous assistance of the 19 pairing-up
cities, and through the concerted efforts of cadres and the masses of all ethnic groups,
Xinjiang has been transformed to a land of life, a land of thriving vitality.
Yes, Xinjiang has been a part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is why “Xinjiang”
literally means “new frontier.”
And I am especially convinced of the exceptional care of the Communist Party.
I mean, there were happy dancing ethnic minorities *and* doves of peace and thriving vitality.
How can you argue with that?
You know what?
This is too much sarcasm even for me.
If you think anyone who buys this kind of propaganda must be an idiot—well, there
are a lot of idiots out there.
That’s why some Western governments are actually saying we shouldn’t call what’s
happening in Xinjiang genocide.
New Zealand is the latest example.
They’re not calling it genocide.
Instead, they’re going “to water down the language, and discuss concerns about human
rights abuses in the region in more general terms.”
Genocide is such a harsh word.
Instead we should be talking about how the Chinese government is being a big meany to
the Uyghurs.
Maybe New Zealand didn’t want to be too critical because of their upgraded free trade
deal with China, their number one trade partner.
Or maybe I’m being unfair to New Zealand.
After all, New Zealand leader Jacinda Arden is taking a tougher stance on China.
“By saying it was getting harder to reconcile differences as China’s role in the world
grows.”
Wow.
What a tough stance.
It’s getting harder to reconcile differences?
How will Chinese leader Xi Jinping sleep at night?
This is like saying your mom telling you you can only have two cookies before bed instead
of three is taking a tough stance.
But that Arden’s extremely mild comment was considered anything close to tough shows
you how low the bar is when it comes to standing up to the Chinese regime.
But one country that is standing up in a big way is the US.
The US State Department under both Trump and Biden, has said that the Chinese Communist
Party is committing genocide against the Uyghurs.
Some US allies have done the same.
Others have not.
Leading to a genocide divide, if you will.
So far, on one side is the US State Deparatment, along with the UK and Canadian Parliaments,
which have all said that it’s genocide.
On the other side are Australia and New Zealand, which won’t use the word genocide.
I just want to remind everyone that the Chinese regime’s treatment of the Uyghurs qualifies
as genocide, according to the UN Genocide Convention.
According to the UN, genocide includes “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily
or mental harm, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births within
the group, and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
With the intent to destroy a group.
Look China, the UN Genocide Convention is not an instruction manual!
All of this is happening in Xinjiang.
So based on the UN Genocide Convention, it’s genocide.
At least until China convinces the UN to completely change their definition of genocide.
That’s partly a joke and partly an extremely depressing prediction.
Now, I did a previous episode on why Western countries hesitate to use the term “genocide.”
Basically, it gets harder to do business with China if we admit the Chinese regime is committing
genocide.
And Western companies really, really want to do business with China.
Heck, they’ll even give innovation awards to Chinese companies that monitor prisoners
in Xinjiang.
But now that the US and other Western democracies are actually using the “g” word, companies
are facing pressure to stop working with Chinese suppliers that use forced labor.
Enough pressure to force them to do something about it.
The US has imposed many sanctions on Chinese officials and Chinese state-run companies
because of the genocide.
And Canada, the UK, and even the EU have imposed sanctions, too.
The Chinese Communist Party is freaking out.
They didn’t expect to get in trouble for committing genocide against the Uyghurs.
After all, they got away with it when they did pretty much the same things to the Tibetans,
the Mongolians, and Falun Gong.
The Communist Party needs China to be known as “a shiny huge market where companies
can make a lot of money.”
But if this keeps going, China will instead be known as “a bigger North Korea.”
The Party can’t let that happen.
Which is why they’re kicking off a huge propaganda campaign.
I’ll tell you about it after the break.
Welcome Back.
The Chinese regime doesn’t want to be known as “a bigger North Korea.”
Especially in the run up to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
So this year, they’ve been pushing hard on a new propaganda campaign to deny the accusations
of genocide.
By showing how happy and wonderful Xinjiang is.
This is a land of religious harmony where the freedom of religious belief is respected
and protected.
This is a land of happiness where people’s well being is constantly improved
All ethnic customs are duly respected
And let’s not forget the dancing!
That’s how you know that ethnic minorities are really happy.
They spontaneously start dancing.
So much dancing.
Eat your heart out, Kevin Bacon.
Footloose)
The Chinese Communist Party has used the tactic before.
And not just with the Uyghurs.
As their repression of Tibet grew worse, Chinese state-run media repeatedly emphasized how
happy Tibetans were.
In fact, Tibetans are the happiest people in the country.
You can tell because they’re dancing.
Well, Tibetans were the happiest, but now the Uyghurs are even happier.
The Chinese embassy in Canberra screened this video of happy Uyghurs for Australian journalists
as part of a two-hour propaganda blitz earlier this year.
But those cynical Western journalists just weren’t buying it.
Maybe because Western journalists have been repeatedly forced out of China after reporting
on Xinjiang.
And before they’re forced out, this is what they face when they try to go to Xinjiang.
“We were turned back from checkpoints, stopped from filming, questioned, and followed.”
That happened to the BBC when they tried to report on the use of forced labor in Xinjiang’s
cotton industry.
But don’t worry, even if Western journalists can’t get the scoop, Chinese state-run media
is there to do the hard-hitting investigative reporting.
“I left no stone unturned, but still couldn’t find any trace of genocide.”
“So Michelle, you can see, with us is a very prosperous Aitiga Square, and this is
exactly what is happening in Kashgar.
There’s definitely no genocide, so to speak.
So Michelle, back to you.”
“Yes, I looked very hard, but there’s no genocide anywhere in the middle of this
square.
Back to you, Michelle.”
But for some reason, people outside China might be skeptical of Chinese state-run propaganda.
But the Chinese Communist Party has a solution.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
The Chinese Communist Party has been trying to spread its propaganda about happy Uyghurs
in Xinjiang.
Including by buying ads on major social media platforms, like Facebook.
And using fake fans to boost their message on Twitter.
But what happens if people are skeptical about what the Chinese Communist Party has to say?
Well, the Party has a solution: get other people to say it for them.
For example, if you don’t believe the Party when it says there’s no genocide in Xinjiang,
do you believe the Economist?
Or how about a Columbia University professor like Jeffrey Sachs, who says the genocide
allegations are unjustified?
Sachs’s argument sounds deceptively reasonable.
He says the US government doesn’t have proof of genocide, so they shouldn’t accuse China
of genocide, but instead should back a UN investigation in Xinjiang.
Of course, the Chinese regime will never allow an independent investigation into Xinjiang.
Especially not through the UN, which it has a huge amount of influence over.
So if the only way we can get proof is through a UN investigation that will never happen,
then we’ll never call it genocide.
And meanwhile the Chinese regime can just continue harvesting organs from Uyghurs.
Jeffrey Sachs, by the way, is a popular interviewee for Chinese state-run media.
I’m not saying that Sachs is bought off or even influenced by the Chinese Communist
Party.
But when the Party finds people who agree with them, they will exploit them for propaganda.
Here’s another example: Western Youtubers living in China.
If you do a search for Xinjiang on YouTube, you will find lots of videos of YouTubers
who travel to Xinjiang and are making videos of what they say is really happening there.
Spoiler alert: they don’t find any genocide, either.
Of course, they’re not exactly going to tour the concentration camps.
Instead, they show bustling cities, speak to Uyghurs who say that life is pretty good,
and some of them even travel to cotton farms to show that there’s no forced labor.
Again, I’m not saying these YouTubers are bought off by the Communist Party.
Always.
But it is interesting that these YouTubers were allowed to travel through Xinjiang and
talk to people, unlike the BBC.
And that people in Xinjiang were willing to talk to them.
State-run CGTN even followed one of these YouTubers around while he was in Xinjiang,
and made a news story out of that.
Clearly what he was saying aligned with the Party’s narrative.
These YouTube videos capitalize on a general mistrust of the mainstream media, and claim
to show what’s really happening on the ground.
But if what they’re showing is also what the authoritarian regime wants you to see,
maybe take that with a grain of salt.
Several grains of salt.
Of course, this type of propaganda isn’t the only way the Chinese Communist Party is
trying to cover up the Uyghur genocide.
A major part of it is attacking activists and scholars that are exposing the genocide.
They say they’re lying about all the torture and rape.
Or Chinese state-run media get their family members still living in China to say it for
them.
They totally volunteered.
Imagine not seeing your parents in years only to watch them disown you in a Chinese propaganda
video.
And the final piece of the Chinese regime’s Xinjiang propaganda push is one that they’re
really, really good at: playing the victim.
The US was the first country to come out and call the Chinese regime’s actions a genocide.
So the Communist Party can pull out its favorite accusation: Western imperialism.
You see, the US is organizing a smear campaign because of its hegemony.
And the accusations of genocide are just a US attempt to contain China that’s doomed
to fail.
I love it when the Communist Party plays the classics.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a fan who supports the show on the crowd
funding website Patreon.
Go to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored to learn more.
LivenTs says: I know that almost literally everything is
made in China.
Is there a list of things that aren't?
Is there a website I can search for a product and find what companies make it not in China?
Or in which I can search a company, and find out where it produces?
Maybe that's what we need.
Actually LivenTs, we’ve been talking about creating a website that does exactly that.
That would let you know what products are made in China and if there are alternatives
that aren’t made in China.
Is that something that you guys would be interested in?
Is it something you think you could help us make?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for your question, LivenTs.
And thank you for supporting the show on Patreon.
Thank you for watching this episode.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.