Right after another an article in today's NYT about how China put perhaps as many as a million people in concentration camps because of their ethnic background, are two articles about how the Chinese government is scrambling to avoid embarrassment about its response to the coronavirus.
I'm not saying the PRC shouldn't be embarrassed about is handling of the virus. But it is really striking how much more the Chinese leaders are worried about criticism about how they are dealing with an epidemic than they are a campaign of cultural genocide against minority groups. I mean, it looks like the Chinese government has screwed up a bunch of things relating to the virus. But an intentional campaign to wipe out a culture just seems to be a lot more blameworthy to me.
But I think the Chinese are right. The world does care a lot more about the coronavirus than it does the Uighurs and Chinese Kazakhs. Hell, even Kazakhstan, with a government that claims to give a shit about Kazakhs in other countries, is working hard to help China suppress news about its concentration camps.
