China, enough

I try to keep quiet about politics, it's always a divisive subject, but I've just read this story about China detaining people who were fleeing Hong Kong to avoid repression https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-53934159

It's difficult to do business in our global economy and not do business with China. Many of us will have seen news stories about Hong Kong in recent weeks as the PRC exerts more control over its westernised, pro-democracy province, and felt increasing concern about China's behaviour.

Ignoring the geopolitical posturing between the USA and China - posturing which is making the world less safe and threatening a new cold war; ignoring the apparent source of Covid-19 and whatever culpability the Chinese government might have; this story of the Chinese preventing the emigration from Hong Kong of their malcontent refugees is appalling. It, to my mind, evidences that the "Peoples" Republic of Chinese has become a forced labour dictatorship run for the benefit of the Communist Party of China.

So I'm going to say this, and it's hard. The Chinese people are, in my personal experience, wonderful, industrious, clever, caring and compassionate humans who have been controlled, enslaved and abused by a communist dictatorship for too long - and we have collaborated, compassionately, in their enslavement. We have supported the Communist Party of China by doing business with China, enabling the Party to flourish, enabling the Party to control the Chinese people by force.

China won't change as long as the Party remains in power, and the Party will remain in power as long as we keep giving it trade. When we do business with China, with Party members, with the blessing of the Party's officials, we oppress the Chinese people, we feed the machine of repression. It's time to stop.

Easier said than done, I know; but we are comparatively wealthy. Most of us have the power to decide to buy non-China products if we wish, and to turn away money, investments, trading opportunities from China. Pretty much anyone in China who can do business with us in the west is doing so with the sanction of the Party. They may not like it, but it's the way of China, even more integral to China than the infamous red envelope.

I am as guilty as any of us, I have lots of goods which were made in China, albeit mostly for western brands. I didn't really care; China, Vietnam, Indonesia, other low wage asian economies - what was the difference? Their people mostly work hard, earn little, need to trade with us. Giving up China will not be easy, but it's time. Unless we defund the Communist Party of China it will continue to oppress the Chinese people, whether they be HongKongers, Uighurs, Tibetians, or pro-democracy agitators within the PRC.

Please stop buying stuff made in the PRC - whether it's branded as a great Chinese company such as Huawei (and it is a great company whatever Trump may say), or a great western company such as Apple. Stop banking money for China-resident entrepreneurs, stop investing in Chinese companies. It's all the same, it's funding the Party, it's funding the Party's abuses of human rights, oppression of minorities, global imperialism. China is the new USSR, but richer because we've been feeding it with our money for the past thirty years - time to stop feeding the beast.

Thanks for reading. Yes the Chinese people will suffer, and that angers me, but it is only through their suffering that the Party will be dismantled so that they may have a better future. We don't need to interfere in China, we just need to have nothing to do with China while the Party remain in power - the Chinese people will do the rest.