American free speech a “knife” for China?

In China under the one-party rule of the Communist Party which censors media and social media, there is not much room for opposing or dissenting views. The traditional belief that a family’s dirty laundry should never be aired in public also does not encourage negative opinions about China. In recent years, the ever-nationalistic Chinese netizens have come up with a new term, or accusation, for those few Chinese nationals who dared to express critical views about China: Handing knives to foreign countries, especially the U.S.

              In the United States, on the contrary, with their freedom of speech and the press, Americans of all political or academic or religious beliefs voice their diverse views day in and day out, in all media, criticizing any politician or policy or airing America’s dirty laundry with no hesitation. To the Chinese, and their delight, Americans are “handing knives” to China every day.

              In this imbalanced trade of “knives,” with very few coming from China under the Party control, and a treasure-trove offered by the U.S. via its free press, China’s media gets to pick and choose from an endless supply of American “knives.”

This weekly will spotlight recent American news stories or reports translated, edited, and published in China. It will help Americans realize how their proud and fervent free speech is sometimes being used or borrowed as a “knife” by China’s media to hit back at the U.S. and aid Communist Party propaganda.

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.

Stay up-to-date

You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.

Join the crew

Be part of a community of people who share your interests.

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.