OP-ED

China is an East-Asian superpower that follows Communism. The country is known for manufacturing and exporting the majority of the consumer goods in the world and they are also the most densely populated country in the world. China’s censorship is also known around the world. We all know that China doesn’t let its citizens talk about whatever they wish; they always need to talk in favor of China, and if not, the repercussions would be severe. A prime example of this is the kidnapping and beating of a former employee for the Hong- Kong consulate. Simon Cheng, 29, went to mainland China for his work. He never came back to Hong-Kong for 15 days. After that, Simon Cheng did come back but fled to the UK as an asylum. In interviews, Simon Cheng said that the Chinese officials took Simon into custody and tortured him. They made him raise his hands up and stand there for a long time and made him do many strenuous exercises. They even resorted to beating him if he quit. He said that there were approximately 10 other people with him, all who belonged to Hong-Kong. Simon said that the Chinese officials believed that Simon started the unrest in Hong-Kong, so they wanted him to “pay” for that. They also made him forcefully confess to other crimes in which he had nothing to do with.

The Chinese government has suppressed the wants and the needs of its citizens. Freedom of speech is an idea that is foreign to the country. An example of this would be when Dr. Li Wenliang tried to warn the Chinese government about the novel COVID-19 when it first started in Wuhan. Dr. Wenliang noticed a SARS-like disease in some of his patients and believed that something was off. The Wuhan government dismissed this and told him to “stop spreading fake news.” Dr. Wenliang died of COVID-19 which sparked a revolution amongst many Chinese citizens. They demanded that freedom of speech should be given to them, but this was quickly suppressed by the Chinese government.

The Chinese government has been meddling not only with the issue of freedom of speech but also freedom of religion. The Uighurs are a minority of Muslims in China who mainly live in the state of Xinjiang. Hanzus is the majority of the population in China. The Chinese government has been trying to eradicate the Uighurs by various means. One way is by trying to send many Hanzu citizens into places where the Uighurs live. This way, the Uighurs could become an even smaller population in China. Another way is by forcing Uighur women to be sterilized by IUDs (intrauterine devices) that stifle women from becoming pregnant. The Chinese government also demands that Uighur women abort pregnancies and even resort to kidnapping Uighur children from their families. These nasty and disgusting ways are used to suppress the Uighur population in China. This has been refuted many times by the Chinese government, but evidence shows otherwise.

The atrocities are countless but also hidden. Not much information is leaked by China, and even if it is, the true reality of that information is questionable. While China is prospering as a nation economically and politically, it is quite poor when it comes to giving basic rights to its people. The rebuttal China has against this argument is “the people are prospering, poverty is low and we are helping people.” I find that argument quite faulty and extremely wrong. China is prospering at the expense of people and their rights. How many people will they hurt, kill, torture, and manipulate? Their lives are being shattered and ruined because of the lofty and ambitious dreams of the Chinese government. The idea of a government is that it is supposed to keep its citizens safe while also letting them prosper. A government is supposed to help those in need and respect the rights of their citizens, not hurt people, and suppress them. This model is quite atrocious and wrong. A person deserves basic rights and a government has no business dictating what ethnicity or religion a person follows. They have no business telling people how many children they should have and what they can and cannot say.

Now, there isn’t much that we as individuals can do, but there are things that we can learn from the Chinese government. We can learn how corrupt politicians can be. We can learn about how many stories that beg for change go unnoticed. We can learn about how, even today, people get stripped of their rights and their basic freedoms. We can’t let this continue. The people of China need to strongly stand up against their government, and until then, there isn’t much we can do to help the Chinese citizens.