I have plenty of principled critiques.
I hate that China promotes chinese traditional “medicine” and homeopathy on the same level as modern medical science.
I do think that not all traditional medicine is bad, and I know that certain parts of traditional medicine have some genuine value and are able to help people, and this isn’t me trying to be chauvinist whatsoever. And I understand China wanting to promote its culture after the Century of Humiliation and decades of Western demonization and sanctions and threats, but to say that TCM is anywhere near the same level as medicine is ridiculous and has the potential to hurt people or make them forego actual treatment in favor of woo.
I also hate that China still has bile bears, and I consider that to be animal abuse, even if the bear bile has some uses, and I hope that eventually China can produce it synthetically.
Similarly to China, I don’t like that Cuba allows cock fighting.
And lastly for now, I think that China is a little too happy to arrest anyone who is even slightly critical.
I understand that running a country of over 1.4 billion people requires some sacrifices, and I think that compared to western imperialist countries, China is pretty good about not arresting people will-nilly and knowing what battles to pick, so to speak. And I also think that people vastly underestimate the power and reach of western NGO’s and subversive and terrorist elements in China.
That being said, I think that China should slightly cool off on arresting supposed dissidents. Surveillance is fine, though. Maybe they have information and perspective that a western Latino like me doesn’t have, and I could very well be wrong, and its very easy for me to sit here and criticize this. But I feel that this gives more power and martyrs those who don’t deserve it, and makes China look bad on the world stage, which could contribute to racism and imperialism.
To quote a comedian and physicist:
“Oh, herbal medicine’s been around for thousands of years!” Indeed it has, and then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became ‘medicine’. And the rest of it is just a nice bowl of soup and some potpourri, so knock yourselves out.
I disagree on the dissidents point though. The example of GDR has taught us how easily capitalists can sway people if they feel their life is getting austere. Such people can be convinced by a number that looks and feels large but won’t make a dent to bourgeois coffers, to abandon their home or even to betray it actively. As such I don’t see a point in criticism unless we see evidence they’re making a mistake.
