Playing the Race Card for China

Anti-China protestors mount a protest rally against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati, Philippines, on July 12, 2016. Philippines brought the case to Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague to challenge China’s actions and claims in the South China Sea, which was ruled decisively in favor of the Philippines in July 2016. Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images

Commentary

The concept of racism is being Shanghaied as soft-on-China individuals, from Canada’s Prime Minister to a young influencer on TikTok, deploy the idea against critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These politicians, a professor, and an influencer, all acting in an ideological capacity, tend not to use actual examples of real individuals who they claim are racist. Rather, they discredit classes of criticism, for example of “China” by young people who use the term as shorthand for China’s government, or of China’s political influence in democratic politics in the West.