The exploitation of the Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party in harvesting blood cotton is already beyond a question of ethnicity. It is an oppression of labor by evil capitalists. The Communist Party no longer fights for the rights of international workers. It has turned into a capitalist, oppressing the Uyghurs relentlessly, plundering them and stealing from them. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China deliberately distorted the issue and turned class exploitation into an issue of racial discrimination also seen in the U.S. Facing the world’s sanctions and crusade against China, Beijing immediately showed a mean and arrogant self, hanging on to their huge consumer market. They forgot the rules of the game of capitalism, that any business transaction must abide by the principle of fairness.

After the truth about blood cotton was revealed this time, people in the world started to realize the ugliness of so-called Communist China. This time, H&M, a Swedish brand that cares about human rights, first challenged Xinjiang’s cotton materials. This initiative immediately met countermeasures by Beijing, only because they have the world’s biggest consumer market. All brands and artists who supported the Swedish initiative were banned by Beijing.

Only some Taiwanese artists have come forward to publicly support Beijing’s position for their own interests. This political reality is ironic. They don’t care about Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, and they could completely abandon their own human rights and values for their personal performances, let alone the oppression of the Uyghurs.

The cyber surveillance by Beijing in the peripheries of their centralized power, including Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, is greater than that of any city in China. The entire area of these places are covered with monitors, and facial recognition is added. Monitoring was not enough, so later an identity check followed, and finally books were censored. Beijing still feels that it is not safe enough and has to formulate a National Security Law, even claiming that it is globally applicable. With such an enormous power, it still feels that the regime is in a state of anxiety. This is because Beijing has realized that it has offended the whole world and would always be threatened. Capitalism has its own political logic, and a balance must be struck between supply and demand. To exploit one’s own people is to exploit the whole world.

When refuting the condemnation from the international community, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China even accused the U.S. of holding black slaves. That was a history of the 19th century, but it was used for comparison with the 21st century. This degenerate view of history is simply anachronism, taking everything out of context. Anyone who is familiar with the history of leftism would know the first line of “The Internationale,” which goes “Stand up, damned of the Earth/Stand up, prisoners of starvation.” The leaders of Beijing have also sung this song. After their revolution succeeded, instead they became capitalists or even slave owners. They have never spared any effort in their inspection and surveillance of the people in China, and they have even exceeded slavery.

The incident of blood cotton is just a tiny tip, and the oppression of the Uyghurs is no longer news. It escalated into an international incident with a lot of attention only because of the boycott of international brands. China is often heard prosecuting its own people, only that this incident of blood cotton has violated the fair trade in capitalism. The price for the revolutions of the Communist Party has long been paid back. As the single party has been dominating for too long, it has already betrayed its promise of so-called “liberation” back then. Competing in the international market with blood-stained cotton completely defied the global rules of the game. It is shameful for Beijing to show such a self.

(By Chen Fang-Ming, Chair Professor, Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University)

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