The CCP’s leaders think they are about to enjoy two weeks of international acclaim. Let’s prove them wrong.
We’re asking for your help.
The 2022 Winter Olympics are here — a.k.a., “the Genocide Games” — and for the next two weeks, mentions of China’s abominable list of crimes and human-rights abuses will be few and far between. You certainly won’t hear much from NBC during their television coverage. Late last year, former NBC Olympics anchor Bob Costas told me that the network spends about a billion dollars on their Olympics coverage between the rights, travel, equipment, lodging, etc., and NBC simply can’t take a risk that the Chinese censors would pull the plug entirely: “Even if they were to simply acknowledge what the issues are, let along take a strong editorial position on those issues, it’s entirely possible that the Chinese could cut the feed.”
Everyone with a role in these Olympic Games wants to avert their eyes, pretend everything is normal, and act like China is just another host country. Beijing thinks it is about to enjoy the benefits of a two-week propaganda festival broadcast to television screens and web browsers all around the world. And you’re unlikely to see or hear too much lambasting of the crimes and scandals of the Chinese regime in a lot of other mainstream news institutions. ABC is owned by Disney, NBC is owned by Comcast, CBS is part of Viacom, the Washington Post is owned by Amazon, Bloomberg is owned by . . . Bloomberg. All of these giant companies want continued access to the Chinese market, and the overwhelming majority of the leaders of these giant companies want to avoid antagonizing the Chinese government.
Who’s left to stand up to China?
I guess it’s up to you and me, then.
And here at National Review, barely a day goes by without another offering of tough-minded reporting, analysis, and opinion about the Chinese government. Niall Ferguson contended we are now in “Cold War II,” with all of the long-term struggle and global stakes that term implies. In dueling cover pieces, former assistant secretary of defense Elbridge Colby argued the U.S. should defend Taiwan, while Professor Patrick Porter contended America’s proper role was to help and exhort Taiwan to defend itself. Former deputy undersecretary of the Navy Seth Cropsey warned that the U.S. could well lose a war in the Pacific with China. Martha Bayles outlined how the Chinese Communist Party exercised leverage over Hollywood. Andrew Stuttaford laid out how the term “fascism” accurately applies to the philosophy of the Chinese government. Or look at just about anything Jimmy Quinn writes, day after day — whether it’s on sanctions efforts on Capitol Hill, prisoners of conscience in Hong Kong, corporate groveling to the Chinese state, or the forced-labor camps for the Uyghurs.
Also, in the most recent issue, I lay out the mountain of circumstantial evidence that suggests the Covid-19 pandemic can be traced back to some sort of accident at one of the labs in Wuhan, China.
Kevin Williamson recently asked, “Are we serious about China, or aren’t we?” Here at National Review, when it comes to this preeminent geopolitical foe, we are as serious as a heart attack.
One of the reasons we can cover China without fear or favor is because we don’t have a parent company that is worrying about access to the Chinese market. We aren’t building theme parks in Shanghai or selling Rich Lowry bobbleheads in Guangdong. But our independence means we’re dependent upon the support of readers like you.
Help us counterprogram the pro-regime Chinese propaganda of this year’s Winter Olympics. Your donations are always welcome, and a gift subscription is another great way to spread our message and our ideas.
Thank you.
