China

AG Barr Delivers Speech On China Aiming To ‘Disgust’ CCP, Encourage Americans To Lessen Dependence

Published

3 years ago

July 16, 2020

Delivering an address to the public about the U.S. policy on China, Attorney General William Barr emphasized that he hopes the communist leaders in Beijing view his remarks as “especially disgusting.”

Referring to FBI Director Chris Wray’s speech last week in which he warned of the CCP’s “nefarious and even illegal conduct,” Barr highlighted that China’s leaders reacted in disgust.

“Now, Chris Wray told me that shortly after his speech last week, one of the leaders of the Chinese communist party pronounced that his speech was particularly disgusting,” Barr said, announcing that he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be working in the coming days to reevaluate the U.S. relationship with China.

He continued, “I told him that I was gonna aim today to be despicable, but I’ll settle for especially disgusting. But, no matter how the Chinese seek to characterize it, I do hope that my speech and Mike Pompeo’s speech will encourage the American people to reevaluate their relationship with China so long as it continues to be ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Barr warned of the ‘economic blitzkrieg’ China’s currently engaged in as their communist leaders seek to rise to the top of the world economy and spread the ideas of socialism and communism, even seeking to export those ideas to the U.S., ridding it of capitalism and the American dream.”

China

China Circles the Wagons Around TikTok

Published

7 hours ago

March 28, 2023

Steve Postal

In follow up to the recent Congressional hearing on TikTok, Chinese state-run media was swift to condemn any scrutiny of the platform. China is claiming through its state-run media that criticism of TikTok is rooted in anti-China prejudice, that TikTok is harmless and not different from any other social media platform, and that it is the US, not China, that is the bad actor.

CCP Claims Scrutiny of TikTok Based on Prejudice Against China

According to China’s state-run media, the US is attacking TikTok out of racial and political prejudice towards China. Criticisms of TikTok based on security concerns amount to “casual, racially-charged slander” and a “Sinophobic witch-hunt,” according to Global Times. That same article claimed that TikTok “has a large target on its back simply because it is Chinese-owned.” Another Global Times article portrayed the Congressional hearing on TikTok as “xenophobic political grandstanding.”

And Chinese media used statements from Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to launder its claim that concerns about TikTok stem from racism. China Daily quoted Bowman as saying: “…Let’s not be racist toward China and express our xenophobia when it comes to TikTok because American companies have done tremendous harm to American people.”

Another Global Times article portrayed the hearing as an “anti-Communist witch hunt,” while the same article claimed that “[t]he ghost of McCarthyism is haunting the US again.” Another Global Times article featured a political cartoon with a similar caption: “Ghost of McCarthyism haunts TikTok Hearing.”

CCP Claims that TikTok is an Innovator, and Not Different from Other Social Media

TikTok is a strong innovator not worthy of scrutiny, according to Chinese state-run media. TikTok is “an innovative app that has enriched the digital life of American people and benefited a lot of micro businesses in the US,” according to Global Times. TikTok “…is a global high-tech company representing openness, innovation, and vitality…,” according to another Global Times article. It is “a leader in digital technology and advanced algorithms” and “a competition for technology and competition for markets,” according to a third Global Times piece. It is “a massively successful business,” according to yet another Global Times article.

CCP media also claims that TikTok doesn’t pose any threat different from other social media. One Global Times article laments that there is a “plethora of international experts highlighting the massive hypocrisy that non-Chinese apps such as Facebook and Google harvest much more data than their Beijing-based rival,” and that there is “nothing to prove [TikTok] is a greater risk than any other social media.” TikTok’s CEO testified that “We are committed to be very transparent with our users about what we collect,” and that “I don’t believe what we collect is more than most players in the industry,” according to another Global Times article.

CCP Claims that Focus on TikTok Reveals US (not China) is Bad Actor

Chinese state-run media also tries to capitalize on the attention on TikTok to issue propaganda criticizing the US. The “witch-hunting against TikTok” show that the “US’ technological innovation is going downhill and the political farce against a tiny app has seriously shattered the US values of fair competition and its credibility,” states Global Times.

And the CCP media accuses the US of doing what China has doing for years: intellectual property theft. According to China Daily, the Congressional hearing “is just the latest attempt by the US to steal the company.” The “US has turned from a cradle of innovation into a robber,” according to another Global Times article.

China’s state-run media is once again trying to deflect and redirect attention away from China’s malevolent actions. With TikTok, China alleges that viewing TikTok in a critical light is racist, that TikTok is an innovative application worthy of praise, and that any criticism of TikTok reviews flaws with the US, not China. Given the platform’s increased popularity in the United States, it unfortunately appears that these CCP talking points are convincing a significant segment of the American population.