Thread by @JimMillward

The flaws in the argumentative logic are so cringe-worthy, but also so telling. I've been trying to articulate the ironies and problems with current PRC whataboutism over racial, indigenous issues (next)

https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1375015592944537605

This trolling is seemingly premised on the idea the "Americans" (as a collective) want to defend our national past, and have no grounds to critique CCP. But in fact, the obvious answer is "yes, coerced cotton-picking is bad. That's why we're calling it out (next)

when YOU do it!" Interning and torturing people because of ethnicity is very bad. So we're calling it out. Trying to eradicate a group's language is very bad. Stop trying to erase Uyghur. (next)

The flaw in the PRC foreign ministry argument is not just that good Americans will say "no shit. Racism sucks. So stop doing it yourself." It's the inability of the PRC state to see that people elsewhere don't agree with everything their own state has done and is doing (next).

and aren't supposed to. (next)

That's why these are called "crimes against humanity." We respond to them as humans, not citizens. US may not have standing 沒資格 to criticize, as Yang Jiechi said. But as humans we always have the right and obligation to call out abuses to human rights. And, in theory, (next)

people can speak through their state: a democratic state criticizing human rights atrocities abroad is speaking as a representative of the people, reflecting their values. So do NGOs, international organizations, charities I support, etc. Many problems in implementation (next)

and abuses past and present, of course. But that's the idea and goal. So PRC foreign ministry appropriating images of Black sharecroppers to get us to buy Xinjiang cotton is -- (next)

so bewilderingly clueless. It offends, but doesn't begin to persuade. People in democratic states are people, we don't have to tow party line or endorse all past or present acts of those states. In fact, we usually don't. The horror and outrage we feel against CCP (next)

policies in Uyghur region is not a function of our citizenship, but of being human, which Chinese people are too. Take pot-shots at US history, if you want--I'll agree with you. (next)

But these don't begin to convince humanity to condone cultural erasure, torture, forced labor, internment, "optimizing population" and other atrocities in the Uyghur region and inflicted on diasporic XJ natives everwhere. In fact, these trenchant comparisons highlight (next)

what's going on.