Why is China hated so much in the West?

[Karmadhi]

Hello

I wanted to ask something that I do not seem to be able to understand

It involves China, and the crazy amount of hostility, hatred, propaganda and overall negative views it has in the West

I would like to understand why, is that the case?

What makes China so special to be hated like this?

The hatred comes from mainstream medias, politicans and even everyday people.

It seems to be strongest with centrists and right wing people.

I already know some point they may make so I will debunk them before someone mentions them on this post

1. China is a dictatorship

Yes, it is. However, so are many other countries that the West does not demonize. UAE, Saudi being two great examples. I would argue they are even more dictatorship like than China.

2. China oppresses minorities

Yes, they do most likely. However, so does Israel with Palestinians in West Bank. So does India with the people in Kashmir. Yet they are seen as allies and everyone sweeps it under the rug.

3. China is anti-West

Is it really? Or is China reacting to Western hostility accordingly

4. China will become the new superpower

So what? Why should it be seen as an issue? Why not work with them instead? 

I have not seen China invade anyone. So they are a lot more reliable than Russia for example.

Perhaps they do some pressure on neighbors, however relative to USA or Russia, they are a lot more peaceful considering how powerful they are.

Neither have I seen them try to seriously influence elections abroad like Russia or Israel do. At least in the West

Therefore, I cannot think of any other reason to hate China specifically so much rather than an egoic reaction of resentment that "we are no longer in charge of the world like before and we want to be the dominant entity".

Which is childish and very biased attitude

What do you guys think?

[Nivsch]

Unfamiliarity and fear from someone who seems different than you. I admit I feel sometimes a little bit of negative emotions to China as well. Many things which are new to you will feel negative or at least difficult with a sense of 'hostility' at the beginning. Including a new workplace you have just joined to. This doesn't mean China is a better than the US in being a dominant player in the world. It isn't in my opinion.

Edited 10 hours ago by Nivsch

[Karmadhi]

2 minutes ago, Nivsch said:

Unfamiliarity and fear from someone who seems different than you. I admit I feel sometimes a little bit of negative emotions to China as well. Everything who is new to you will feel negative or difficult at the beginning. This applies for everything including a new workplace you have just joined to.

I get your point, however why in that case India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea are not demonized?

Japan used to be second largest economy at some point

India is the growing star of the world

Why selectivelly demonize China?

All countries I mentioned are super alien to Western culture.

[Jwayne]

It's mostly just racism, and secondly, this racism is now geopoliticallly incentivized so that the threatened countries in the West can cope better as they are now tasked with overturning the threat of impending decline as their own stature on the world stage is no longer guaranteed or taken for granted as it once was.

[Jodistrict]

The Western powers are intimidated by China because of their size.   The Western elites don’t want to share power with China but they don’t have any choice.  At the same time they fear China, they are also dependent on China for trade.  The bulk of the problem resides in the Western mind. 

[LordFall]

Israel is like a belligerent vassal state to the US.

Geopolitics runs on balance of power, not moral consistency.

 India, while growing, is nowhere near possessing the industrial, technological, or military scale to contest global hegemony. Western strategists actually see India as a natural counterweight to Beijing.

China is the only true peer-level competitor capable of reshaping the global economic architecture and dethroning US supremacy. When a state threatens another state's primacy, media narratives and domestic hostility are weaponized by default to manufacture public alignment.

It’s structural incentives and competition, pure and simple.

Edited 2 hours ago by LordFall

[Karmadhi]

30 minutes ago, LordFall said:

China is the only true peer-level competitor capable of reshaping the global economic architecture and dethroning US supremacy. When a state threatens another state's primacy, media narratives and domestic hostility are weaponized by default to manufacture public alignment.

It’s structural incentives and competition, pure and simple.

I agree

It is what I said above basically, bias and wanting to be the best

Now, why should I as a citizen care about it? Why should we hate China?

I am not American, so why to me does it matter if China or USA are number 1?

As long as China is not invading and can be cooperated with, what is the issue?

I live in Europe and Europe is already trading with China, China is way more reasonable than Trump's America is.

Vance wont be better probably.

It is like a mob boss being replaced by another in the local neighborhood

Why should we normal people living there who are not in the front seat, care

Edited 2 hours ago by Karmadhi

[Lyubov]

Just power. The same reason the west doesn’t care about Thailand. Because Thailand doesn’t have any power. Do you think Thailand wants to be built entirely on tourism and deal with all the fucktards that come to their country for a holiday? Of course not but what choice do they have? They don’t have a huge population or army or a ton of money to set the rules and get richer in another way. There is obviously much deeper nuance to this and plenty of history, geopolitics and political science books you can read on this. But yeah, they want China to be a poor workshop at best or a colonized country at worst. China seems to be rising above both of these. 

Edited 11 minutes ago by Lyubov