Opinion: Everyone Should Learn about China, Here is Why

So, China—the mysterious Far East country that constantly appears in the News—seems almost inevitable, just as much as the cheap and jovial food in Chinese restaurants scattered all around the globe.

You may not be going to China, but China is coming for you: not only through TikTok, Huawei phones, and the ambitious 5G and high-speed railway networks they are trying to cover the surface of the earth with, but also through the more subtle influences they carefully permeate in academia, politics, and society.

Even if you are not going to university, you will have noticed the rising number of Chinese international students just about everywhere. They are no longer limiting themselves to the well-known English-speaking Five Eyes (US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia) or, more generally, Europe and North America. They go just about everywhere, from around China (Japan, Korea, etc.) to the furthest corner of Africa (South Africa).

Although most of those Chinese students are just self-funded middle-class children seeking a different education and more promising prospects, there have been numerous reports of other intentions, such as spying on adversarial military (Link: Detroit News) and civilian technology (Link: NBC), harassing Chinese dissidents abroad, and silencing criticism on China via crowd pressure.

Of course, the Chinese government recruits not only students to fulfil its agenda overseas. Businesspeople, academics, media personalities, politicians, and just about everyone willing to exert their influence on behalf of China are promised handsome remuneration.

In addition to indirect influence through Chinese international students, China also seeks more direct academic influence through its Confucius Institutes (CI). The CIs, funded majorly by the Chinese government, are hosted on university campuses worldwide. Although they are normally not part of the University governance structure, CI members often hold other positions at the university with possible governance power. The CIs, although mostly refraining from political propaganda, convey a strongly favourable narrative of Chinese culture and, by its extension, the Chinese government. The institution has been classified as a Chinese state mission by the US Department of State.

The influences of those Cis are not contained within university campuses. Most CIs offer free public courses on the Chinese language, culture, and cuisine, in a USD 10 billion per year effort to, in the words of President Xi Jinpooh of China, 'give a good Chinese narrative'. This extensive and expensive public image campaign complements China’s more direct effort to promote its ideology via its own international outlets and purchased propaganda space on other more popular news outlets, including the Telegraph (UK), the Washington Post (US) and Le Figaro (France).

Formal publications via traditional and online media are also accompanied by more informal propaganda on social media, a tactic termed 'Spamouflage Dragon' by critics. The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), a UK-registered charity focusing on cyber-freedom, has identified at least 350 fake or hijacked accounts used to spread disinformation in favour of China. The accounts were found to, among other activities, repetitively post Chinese and English language infographics denying the cultural genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and spreading conspiracy theories about the US.

So, China is coming for you, not just with its physical exports but also its carefully choreographed soft influence campaigns. But you may ask,' Why should I be concerned?'

You have every right not to care for the 1.4 billion Chinese people living directly under the authoritarian regime. However, if you cherish the democracy and freedom we take for granted in the Western hemisphere, be warned: China’s ambition does not stop at its border. It is actively seeking to dominate the world and reshape world order.

President Xi Jinpooh of China has made his ambition crystal clear: ‘[to lead] the world in terms of composite national strength and international influence. To that end, China is actively undermining the democratic process in Western countries, notably in the US, New Zealand and Australia, manipulating elections with tactics ranging from online smear campaigns against anti-China candidates to significant donations to pro-China candidates. It is also actively exporting its authoritarian ideology, in part through its fierce promotion of Xi’s book The Governance of China, a book dubbed a "…mix of stilted Communist Party argot, pleasant-sounding generalizations, and 'Father Knows Best'-style advice to the world" by Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, writing for Foreign Policy. Purportedly, more than 6 million copies in 21 languages were sold by 2017.

China has always sought hegemony, attested by the nation's name itself: Zhongguo, the term for China in Chinese, means middle country. Middle not just in geography but also culture, politics, and everything. Chinese emperors had waged war against each other over the dominance of China, yet they had one consensus all along: whoever dominated China must ensure China, in turn, dominated the world. The Sino-centrist sentiment has only intensified in modern times, with national supremacy narratives being preached through so-called ‘patriotic education’ to students and workers of all ages.

You may not be going to China, but China is coming for you. The fall of the USSR taught Xi and his team of Chinese autocrats a vital lesson: Communist regimes cannot peacefully coexist with prosperous democracies. The only way to secure the future of his communist regime is to ensure there are no prosperous democracies anywhere in the world. China must dominate, and its autocratic ideologies must dominate. Then, there can be eternal peace for Xi.

Of course, for almost everyone else, it will be eternal oppression.

Do you fancy living in eternal oppression? If not, it is time to learn about China and join the cliché but essential fight for democracy against autocracy, freedom against oppression, and progress against regression.

China is a country of 1.4 billion people. Outside China, there are just under 7 billion. What China has in its advantage, really, is the element of stealth. If most people outside China understand the evilness of Xi’s autocratic ambitions and reject them, they will go nowhere. As such, Xi’s much-publicized yet unfulfilled global agenda will cast doubt on the legitimacy of his reign over China, likely toppling the monstrous communist regime for good. China as we know it today will no longer exist, and hopefully, at least for a while, democracy and freedom triumph.

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