Fairly criticizing China is fine, and so is caring about Taiwanese rights, but to call yourself an “anti-communist” just makes you a racist.

As an Asian-American, I believe I have the right to Chinese citizenship. Though I may have been born in the U.S., China is my ancestral homeland. Many people do not know this because our history has been erased and rewritten over millennia, but Asians are actually indigenous to China. 

The recent increase of Sinophobic rhetoric in the United States due to Congress’s TikTok ban is making me, and many other Asian-American students, feel unsafe at our own schools. Why are they going through with this ban? Because it’s a Chinese company and “a breeding ground for anti-American, communist values.” Some even consider TikTok to be a matter of national security, claiming that it violates data privacy laws and is nothing but “a psyop tool for the CCP.” This is blatant misinformation. Not every Chinese citizen is a spy. I have many family members in China and they’re good people. I worry for their safety every day. This new wave of “red scare” tactics is being used to identify and track supporters of the PRC, harass them off social media, fire them from their jobs, and stalk their families. Sound familiar? This is McCarthyism all over again.

First of all, the values of the Chinese Communist Party are not a “new” movement. Communism is simply the long-held, traditional Chinese belief that all property and means of production should belong to the people. Every citizen is equal under the law. The People’s Republic of China is a beautiful and diverse country and is the only civilized, fully communist nation in the East. Good luck finding any other communist country in the Eastern Hemisphere. 

Sinophobia is a serious problem in the United States. Anti-Chinese sentiment did not start with COVID-19. It is a pervasive, global issue that has existed for millennia. The persecution and dehumanization of our people in Western spheres has been referred to with the racist phrase “Yellow Peril” since the 19th century. The communist movement in China was created out of a need to protect its citizens from those disgusting capitalist pigs. Fairly criticizing China is fine, and so is caring about Taiwanese rights, but to call yourself an “anti-communist” just makes you a racist. 

Many self-proclaimed “anti-communists” bring up the fact that there are some Asians who are not members of the CCP, in order to claim that it is not racist nor Sinophobic to oppose communism. First of all, no self-respecting Asian would ever call themselves an “anti-communist.” When the vast majority of us are CCP party members, it becomes very clear that what racists mean by “communist” is “Asian.” The fact of the matter is, if you are an opponent to the CCP you are an opponent to 90% of Asians. 

I spoke with Chinese-American congresswoman Judy Chu, a proud Sinophobe, to ask why she is not part of the CCP. “How could I be a member of a political party from a foreign nation? I was born and raised in the United States. I have nothing to do with the state of China,” she stated, rather defensively. “Communism is a political ideology completely unrelated to the Chinese identity. Just because China happens to be communist doesn’t mean- Wait a minute, are you conflating all Asians with China? You do realize there are other types of Asians, right?” 

Well sure, but not the important kind. 

Chu continued, “isn’t China literally committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims as we speak?” 

Listen, lady, you can’t just go around calling anything you don’t like a “genocide.” What’s happening in Xinjiang is a complex and nuanced situation. Just because the Chinese government sponsored 5,000,000 Han Chinese to settle the area in the 1950s doesn’t mean they were trying to forcibly assimilate the cultural identity of the Uyghurs. And just because they destroyed a third of all their mosques doesn’t mean they’re trying to eliminate Islam. Besides, there’s no verifiable evidence to support the claims of mass-incarceration, forced sterilization, torture, rape, and organ harvesting. The people of Xinjiang are very happy, and the UN has no idea what they’re talking about. Don’t claim to know our history if you’re not even from China.

Readers, I realize not all of you westerners (derogatory) may be familiar with Chinese history. Allow me to give you a brief history lesson. Despite what the right-wingers want you to believe, Taiwan has never been a legitimate state. Seriously, they don’t even have the letter “T” in their language. Before the PRC was founded, the area was in shambles. In 1949, after the Chinese civil war, the CCP took control and graciously allowed the ex-nationalists to continue to exist within its borders, similar to the treatment of Hong Kong and Macau. However, unlike Hong Kong and Macau, the “one country, two systems” proposal has continuously been rejected by leaders of Taiwan for the past 75 years. Taiwan insists that the island, as well as the rest of mainland China, belongs to them because they were there first. In reality, China has always belonged to the people, hence the name People’s Republic of China. The Taiwanese people are nothing but a bunch of backwards, capitalist, militant terrorists.

China has the right to self-determination, and the PRC holds the Mandate of Heaven. If the heavens did not want China to be ruled by the PRC, then the CCP would not have won the war. It doesn’t matter if the PRC is only 74 years old, their rule is legitimate because no one’s overthrown them yet. Clearly the heavens favor them. It is a testament to the strength and resilience of our people that we have survived to see the establishment of a fair and just political system, where our citizens can live safely without worrying about the horrors of capitalism. We believe in equality for all. Unless you’re Taiwanese. Or an Uyghur Muslim. Hong Kongers, you’re on thin ice.