4 ms·

Something changed in the past 5 years or so. For a while, the American tech press was pretty doting on Alibaba and a lot of people in the west still had the hop

Something changed in the past 5 years or so. For a while, the American tech press was pretty doting on Alibaba and a lot of people in the west still had the hope that China was going to be a great new frontier for western products and cultural exchange, thanks to the booming middle class. A lot of that goodwill started getting frittered away as the CCP were involved with events that appeared to threaten freedom/democracy and autonomy both in the China region and around the rest of the world. Just a few off the top of my head... - 2016 Artificial islands and military bases built in South China Sea - 2017 Four Corners report on CCP influence operations in Australia - 2017 HRW report on Uighur reeducation camps - 2018 Xi Jinping dissolves term limits - 2018 Two Michaels detained - 2019 Hong Kong National Security Law and protests - 2020 Coronavirus - 2020 Ladakh border skirmishes There are lots more examples. Meanwhile, citizen journalists are being disappeared and foreign journalists are getting kicked out of the country, which is only making it more difficult to get independent reporting of what is going on. Personally, I don't think it's so much that there is no positive reporting about China happening in the west any more, it's just that now the more optimistic stuff is balanced out by a more cynical take.

underseacables 6y ago
I wonder if HN is able to identify Chinese state manipulation of the comments here. I’ve never seen so many Sinophile defensive comments before. It’s almost like someone pushed a button and called for backup.
- ngokevin 6y ago
  Have you been to China, talked to its people often, or do you get most of your sentiments online from other commenters and through news? I'd argue there is US mass media manipulation. There's simply clear monetary (and nationalistic) incentive in riling Americans against an evil enemy. In my eyes, the US paints China as evil just as much as NK paints US as evil. Do you not think it's propaganda that all the news is one sided, have you not considered a scenario where Americans might have been planted a bias by the media? Also, I'd be an effin' amazing impostor to act as a plant as a YC alum on HN with my username orange. Maybe China wired me some money.

underseacables 6y ago

I wonder if HN is able to identify Chinese state manipulation of the comments here. I’ve never seen so many Sinophile defensive comments before. It’s almost like someone pushed a button and called for backup.

ngokevin 6y ago
Have you been to China, talked to its people often, or do you get most of your sentiments online from other commenters and through news? I'd argue there is US mass media manipulation. There's simply clear monetary (and nationalistic) incentive in riling Americans against an evil enemy. In my eyes, the US paints China as evil just as much as NK paints US as evil. Do you not think it's propaganda that all the news is one sided, have you not considered a scenario where Americans might have been planted a bias by the media? Also, I'd be an effin' amazing impostor to act as a plant as a YC alum on HN with my username orange. Maybe China wired me some money.