That distinction shouldn't need to be made in the first place - it's pretty blindingly obvious to anyone with basic thinking skills that "the government of a county" and "the people/nationalities/culture of a county" are two totally different things.
Even American county dwellers, who tend to be less educated, can understand this pretty easily - most of them identify as being "Americans", but are still critical of their government (and associated politicians).
The CCP has invested a lot of energy into making the people of China conflate these two concepts. The party IS China and the two are inseparable according to the CCP.
This is where the topic becomes contentious and not so black and white. The CCP has successfully influenced millions of people into doing its bidding abroad. And the CCP is fully aware of the West's strong aversion to racism in any form, and has been able to weaponise it.
Relevant reading: Silent Invasion: China's influence in Australia (2018)
As an American of Chinese descent, I honestly have very real concerns about my own safety in the next decade or two going forward. Japanese internment camps happened not too long ago, they can happen again. Or worse.
Even if it weren't government sanctioned, violence against us is still on the rise[1].
The issue is called out-group homogeneity bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-group_homogeneity
How does it surprise people these days?
China had 20 years of relatively good relationships with US, and the world's biggest spy service.
Take a look at Russia, a supposed ally of Beijing. Annually, there are dozens, and dozens of people who are given life for espionage for China. And those are only cases which go public.
Russia is a closed, militarist society, with secret police sticking its nose into everything.
USA is an open country, with open borders, immigration system, freedom to do whatever business you want, and an open society, with a few million people strong entrepreneur class exuberant at the opportunity of doing business even with a place like China.
It is rational to believe that there are way more than just a few random communists who got into your biggest companies, and much likely that there been a many decades long concerted infiltration, and recruitment campaign. This is just what those guys do.
For example, a former "student activist" from Maoist Kharagpur is now running one very big Californian Internet company.
What's wrong with someone openly having opinions different from yours? If they were really a threat to the US, then they would remain as inconspicuous as possible.
Edit: it looks like you've been using HN primarily for ideological battle and flamewar lately. That's a problem. We ban accounts that do that, because it's not only against the intended spirit of the site, it also destroys it for what it's supposed to be for (curious, respectful conversation). Would you please take the intended spirit more to heart so we don't have to ban you?
https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
Seems like your point of view is that anything that goes along with the US-centric point of view is bad and is flamebait.
Am I not allowed to talk about structural racism? Am I not allowed to share my perspective on current and historical actions by the US?
Or am I only allowed to say, "Yes, the US is perfect. We are all good here. We have no problems and have never had any problems."
Might as well not even have a discussion board at that point. Just links with no comments allowed.
In fact, it was a textbook example of what the site guidelines ask you not to post. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html? Note this one, among the many that you broke: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." That's there for good reason.
> Or am I only allowed to say
It isn't about your views, it's about comment quality. That has nothing to do with the U.S. or anything else that you mentioned; it has to do with internet forum dynamics. We're trying for thoughtful, curious conversation here. That requires conscious care on all our part or we'll end up with the internet default: a forum that sucks, bursts into flames, and eventually burns to a crisp. The way you and other users perpetuated this flamewar is an example of that outcome—another textbook example actually.
I know it always feels like the mods must be against you when you get moderated (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...), but if it helps at all, your counterparts on the opposite side feel like we're secretly on your side. This is routinely true on all divisive topics.
Wikipedia begs to disagree with you. This is a real problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_internment_camps#Reac...
I certainly hope I’m no longer on Earth if and when the USA and China treat each other as actual enemies rather than rivals.
Vietnam wasn't lost militarily. It was lost politically due to the war's unpopularity.
It'll be the biggest naval / air / amphibious battle since the Pacific theater of WW2.
Just resolved a LOT faster.
How many countries had the US invaded and is still occupying? How many were threatened into extreme exploitation? How many people are in the ICE run concentration camps?
The two countries don’t even remotely compare.
The people you’re asking couldn’t begin to answer these questions. They don’t know the uncontested grisly facts of the US empire because they’re not talked about on any of their favorite TV shows.
Anyone who’s interested, here’s a short book on one small facet of that history: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583679065
What "coercion"? China employs internet commentators to influence online opinion[1] - whereas the US does not (as far as anyone can tell).
> Hong Kong has been a part of China for centuries.
You're misdirecting. China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration[2], which stated that "Hong Kong's existing capitalist system and way of life would be unchanged for 50 years until 2047"...which China is now blatantly violating, making this an effective invasion - or some form of hostile action - take your pick of words.
> How many countries had the US invaded and is still occupying? How many were threatened into extreme exploitation?
In self-defense. China has no excuse for invading HK, which poses absolutely no threat to them.
> How many people are in the ICE run concentration camps?
Not remotely comparable. ICE detains illegal immigrants for breaking a rather reasonable law - "you don't enter our borders without permission" - and then returns them to their country. China detains existing citizens for thoughtcrime, speaking out against the state, or merely being Uyghur - none of which are reasonable.
> The two countries don’t even remotely compare.
Yes - every shred of evidence paints China as being incomparably worse.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Cent_Party [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration
There are many examples of the US working to influence the internal politics of other countries through media, for instance Radio Free Asia or the National Endowment for Democracy.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/analysis/National-Endowment-f...
There is a thing called Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe since 1949. It still exists.