On the 5th of February 2025, Channel News Asia reported, “China calls for cooperation with EU amid ‘global challenges’”. This is, of course, in response to American President Trump’s tariffs and threats of tariffs on, it seems to be, every country.

Hi, my name is Terence and I’m your host for Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current affairs to matters of faith. I want to talk tariffs. Tariffs disrupt the global economy, and they will affect those who live in South East Asia. And I will talk about tariffs one day, just not today, because I want to disclose my position regarding China.

I think China is a bully. It is a bully on Taiwan. China’s official position is that it does not matter whether the Taiwanese want to be united with China or not, their wishes do not matter. They will be assimilated.

China’s human rights violations against their Uighur citizens are not condemned enough. While Muslim countries are fast, it’s now a reflex for them to condemn the US, UK, Australia, and the West for every slight real and imaginary in the Middle East; I find it baffling the silence on their Muslim brothers and sisters in Uighur.

China claims the South China Sea. I truly think, if not for the US, China would have annexed the South China Sea while Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei just helplessly looked. None of these countries can contend with the Chinese Navy.

The three issues I mentioned, Taiwan, Uighyur, the South China Sea, are factual. These are official China policies that should give every Sinophile some pause. Yet, China’s global influence has increased while the West has decreased.

What type of influence? It’s not a cultural influence. In my opinion, Chinese movies and music have not managed to cross the cultural gap as well as South Korean or previously Japanese culture has. The West is more familiar with Blackpink and Squid Game than they are with … okay… I can’t think of a Chinese group or movie that has successfully crossed over.

China’s influence began as the world’s factory. It made everything: clothes, phones, power tools. Everything came stamped with “Made in China”. Then, they went up the value chain and are now the number one Electric Vehicle maker, beating Tesla. They have Deepseek beating OpenAI. China is more advanced in its economy and technology and threatens American hegemony.

If history repeats itself, then China flexing its muscles reminds me of Japan’s ambition pre-World War 2. And we all know how that turned out.

But… but… but… having said all the negative things about China, I consider the Chinese to be a noble race. I could be biased since I am an overseas Chinese, but anyone who doesn’t know China other than what they read in the news should read some Chinese literature.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is classic literature. If reading the Chinese or the English translation is too much for you, then watch the TV series or play the games. I reckon there is a reboot every five years. That’s just one. Another fun one is Justice Bao. And it shows the Chinese love for justice against corrupt judges.

Once you have read the Chinese classics, you will be convinced, I have no doubt, that the Chinese have a rich and noble culture, they are proud of it, and they have every right to take pride in the Chinese civilisation.

In an alternate world, China would stand together with the other great economies, the US, EU, and Japan, and be a guiding light rather than a threat, an outsider, a regional bully.

Imagine for a moment, if China was basically Taiwan but supersized. That is alternate history. And although it is an oversimplified conclusion, I think it’s a plausible one given how modern day China and Taiwan came to exist.

So why is it that such a great country would become such a big bully? In my half-informed opinion, the problem is not the people; it’s the political party, the one and only, CCP, China Communist Party.

For a while, I couldn’t get over how a country with such great literature, which includes citizens rising up against oppressive powers, could co-exist with the CCP. Nor does the CCP ban books, movies or games. China is not North Korea, where its culture orbits around its Great Leader.

And I found the answer to this riddle in the Gospels.

Let me read from Luke 11:47–48 (ESV), here Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and lawyers:

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

A bit of context: the Pharisees considered themselves good people. Favoured of God. The rest of society respected them for their zeal to obey God’s commands. It was a badge of honour to be a Pharisee.

But Jesus blasts them for their hypocrisy. I read again:

For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

Thus, the Pharisees honour the prophets, and remember they are respected members of society, yet Jesus says they are no different from those who killed the prophets.

And so, if I can do a bit of mental kung fu here, I think the CCP is like the Pharisees. The CCP can take pride in the Chinese culture and the Chinese people, a great and noble soul, yet at the same time, the very same CCP is also responsible for oppressing and shackling the Chinese people. If the CCP found anyone a threat, they would be the villains in the literature they celebrate.

So, I don’t see myself as anti-China. I don’t even want to describe myself as anti-CCP. I am against the current Chinese Communist Party’s policy on Taiwan, Uighyur and South China Sea.

In that sense, I try to be consistent. I am not pro-Israel, nor am I anti-China, I try to do what the Bible says, “Do not call evil, good or good, evil”.

This is the Daily Monsoon, a podcast where I connect current affairs to matters of faith. Thanks for listening.