> I truly don't know what could be done to help free speech prosper there as it should I think there's literally nothing the West should do directly, and activ

> I truly don't know what could be done to help free speech prosper there as it should I think there's literally nothing the West should do directly, and active pressure will actually be counterproductive. I don't know if it's true about Europeans, but it's sad how Americans have a tendency to give strong opinions about topics without understanding the history, even when it's very relevant. China endured constant humiliation and near-colonization by Western powers for a period of 300 years, including a series of unequal treaties and giving up Hong Kong, forced importation of opium, and military occupation of Beijing and the surrounding countryside. Americans may not have ever learned about this history, but this is drilled into every single Chinese student from a young age. In that context, America or any other power telling China that it should 'learn from the West' and should adopt Western values, perhaps under the threat of sanctions or other consequences, will be automatically rejected not just by the Chinese government but also the Chinese people as a repeat of colonialism and Western 'arrogance'. Better to let the people ask pointed questions of its own government. But if the West gets involved directly, then it becomes very easy for the government to tar domestic proponents of human rights as stooges of Western imperialists and then lock them all up, with the full support of the populace.