Defend China. How is it currently socialist?
Some things to respond to (the gatcha questions):
The rapid expansion of capital, foreign and local, and the reemergence of capital accumulation as a production goal in the end of the 20th century
The existence of megacorporations, especially private megacorporations such as tencent and foxconn
the state of labor rights in the aforementioned megacorporations, and the state of labor rights in the industrial sector as a whole
The repression of marxist and leftist protest and critique of the current state of the system
The apparent lack of repression of non-leftist critique (I could easily be convinced that this is just because they're amplified by American media)
The great firewall (I could be convinced this is protectionism to avoid Western silicon valley capitalism's supremacy on the internet)
The social credit system
idk i guess talk about the Uyghurs if you want, but I don't really want that to become the entire discussion, as it has a tendency to be, so if you talk about that, don't make it the entirety of your defense or attack
and let's try to keep this relatively civil? Like, a random post and argument between some leftists on the internet isn't actually going to like, collapse china's rising economic and political power into nothing. We can't actually do shit about china, good or not, so try not to make this a flame war?
The whole Uyghur situation is really overwhelming to me. If feels like I'm either consuming CIA propaganda or Chinese propaganda. I'm willing to believe that the accounts of the camps and the surveillance network within Xinjiang are exaggerated. However, it's the mere existence of these camps and the mere existence of the surveillance network with Xinjiang that's damning to me. And it really irks me when people throw around the word "re-education" as if it doesn't occur to them why that word has a negative connotation.
This will help you feel less overwhelmed. Its obvious who's in the right and who's being bombing muslims all across Asia then pretending to deeply, deeply care about them.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-12-05/Fighting-terrorism-in-Xinjiang-MaNLLDtnfq/index.html
You should check this out
My understanding is that the Uyghurs as an ethnic minority face similar sorts of discrimination, economic inequality, and oppression as do ethnic minorities in other advanced capitalist nations. This isn’t to say “hey look, the USA is bad too,” and use finger pointing to skirt around the key questions, which is a pretty common tactic for those who apologize for the Chinese bourgeoisie (see, for example, everyone posting screeds ITT).
I’d point out that capitalist productive relations breed oppression and inequality and crisis, and China, with its liberalization and reintegration into global capitalism, is no exception. The solution should be obvious to socialists—workers’ control and socialism are the material basis by which we improve conditions for oppressed peoples in China or elsewhere.
Of course there is no leadership from the CPC, or their defenders, in line with this working class perspective. There is only a flagrantly anti-Marxist perspective that capitalism has not yet developed “enough” (how much is enough?) to support socialism, despite China probably having the most powerful working class in history and an obvious capacity to develop under rational planning by the working class.