China’s guide to winning friends and crushing dissent

China continues to present itself to the world as a benign and progressive global power while its government continues to abuse its citizens and intimidate foreign neighbors.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an impressive speech to support his “One Belt, One Road” global economic initiative. He made powerful arguments on how no nation can stand alone in our interconnected world, and how we must come together as a harmonious global community, free from impassable borders and harsh divisions.

Yet I and President Xi are fully aware that as I write this, China’s “Great Firewall” will most likely ensure no Chinese citizen has access to this article, or the hundreds of other websites blocked by Internet restrictions so tough that even China’s own officials call it regressive.

This is a hypocrisy that is very common in Chinese diplomacy, and one that has often popped up in the news recently. We hear of how the People’s Republic wishes for warmer relations with the U.S. while we see stories of Chinese jets confronting U.S. aircraft over international waters. We are told how they seek global cooperation yet continue to actively support economic espionage against U.S. companies. And though the Chinese government wishes to unite much of the Eurasian continent under the banner of peace, it still will threaten war with the Philippines to gain illegal territory. Even the Belt and Road Initiative is seen by many of the invited nations as a neo-colonial strategy to force less developed countries into economic servitude to Beijing.

Yet perhaps the biggest hypocrisy is President Xi’s claim that China wants to “add splendor to human civilization” while still being one of the most oppressive regimes in the world. The People’s Republic has had a long history of human rights violations, and it is even worse today. Hundreds of journalists, civil rights lawyers, artists, and political activists have been detained during Xi’s presidency, and many still remain imprisoned or possibly executed. Though resistance to these measures is still active, such as last Thursday when the wives of imprisoned Chinese activists met with a Washington subcommittee, it has largely moved overseas as Chinese citizens at home have mostly ceased any further political criticism.

We live in an era of strong political deception. Governments and ruling leaders seem to be more than ever trapped in cloak-and-dagger games while ignoring the fundamental happiness of its citizens. Even the U.S. government is run by a president whose entire administration is crumbling under the weight of false statements, controversial decisions, and information leaks. Yet we must be wary of China, because time and again they have proven their desire to expand their political influence across the world, and with that influence comes Beijing’s aggressive need for complete control. Already we know

Already we know Hollywood movies will self-censor their scripts for Chinese markets, and we are now aware of their plans to create an Orwellian DNA library of populations in rebellious regions. If this is the China that President Xi thinks should to be the new world leader, then we should all be very, very afraid.