I don’t know about sinophobia, but there was a prevailing American hegemony that’s been burned to a crisp by Trump. It positioned America as THE important place with THE cultural values that ruled the world. With Russia sidelined as a great power and Europe firmly allied with America, everyone else was viewed as less important and worthy of respect. Countries like China were not viewed as equals, not viewed as important, not viewed as serious competition to America’s dominance. Even after Trump’s first term, even after China’s rise as an economic powerhouse, America still had so much influence through its companies, it’s culture, it’s presence in the world.
Now, China has the upper hand in basically every respect. They don’t need to reach or lie about how America is a failing empire because it is. Morality aside, China is on track to surpass the US in basically every way, fully reliant on Western nations for nothing. They have their own electronics, more energy security with renewables, a self sustaining culture that doesn’t need American exports, and a powerful military. They have a healthy amount of capital to throw around in the world, not at the behest of an independent private sector, but private sector that rejects fundamental neoliberal assumptions about free trade. They broke the global capitalist game designed to give advantage to the advantaged, taking more from than a nation at their level was supposed to.
The sinophobia that they talk about is real, but they aren’t specifically talking about bigotry. There is a racial component to seeing non-white people as less important, but the bigger slight is seeing the nation as weak. The major offence is not to people who are Chinese, but the respect owed to China. When people and country are rhetorically one in the same, there is little difference in bigotry and national disrespect.
I don’t know about sinophobia, but there was a prevailing American hegemony that’s been burned to a crisp by Trump. It positioned America as THE important place with THE cultural values that ruled the world. With Russia sidelined as a great power and Europe firmly allied with America, everyone else was viewed as less important and worthy of respect. Countries like China were not viewed as equals, not viewed as important, not viewed as serious competition to America’s dominance. Even after Trump’s first term, even after China’s rise as an economic powerhouse, America still had so much influence through its companies, it’s culture, it’s presence in the world.
Now, China has the upper hand in basically every respect. They don’t need to reach or lie about how America is a failing empire because it is. Morality aside, China is on track to surpass the US in basically every way, fully reliant on Western nations for nothing. They have their own electronics, more energy security with renewables, a self sustaining culture that doesn’t need American exports, and a powerful military. They have a healthy amount of capital to throw around in the world, not at the behest of an independent private sector, but private sector that rejects fundamental neoliberal assumptions about free trade. They broke the global capitalist game designed to give advantage to the advantaged, taking more from than a nation at their level was supposed to.
The sinophobia that they talk about is real, but they aren’t specifically talking about bigotry. There is a racial component to seeing non-white people as less important, but the bigger slight is seeing the nation as weak. The major offence is not to people who are Chinese, but the respect owed to China. When people and country are rhetorically one in the same, there is little difference in bigotry and national disrespect.