Why Understanding Media Misinformation is important to Understanding Conflict

Four the last five years I've been fighting to prove that media hype and anti-China rhetoric is biased, China is misunderstood,, many of its policies, it's legalities and even parts of its society are misinterpreted and, as a result, we are misinformed, sometimes the misinformation is simply a misunderstanding, sometimes it's an outright lie but almost 100% of Western media on China is wrong - almost every single politician in the USA, UK, Australia and even most in New Zealand as well as many in Europe are informed by people who read this misinformation and therefore they are misinformed too. IT gets even worse when we realise that the advisors to senior government decision makers are getting it wrong as well - why does no one think to ask China, or Chinese what they think, instead of assuming that they would all think the same as us - its basic behavioural psychology 101, people with different backgrounds will act differently to the same set of stimulus - a country that has no history of wars outside its own borders, which builds a military, is unlikely to take that military out of its own borders if it has had the ability to do so for 5000 years and never done so, what makes people think it will do so now?

So, when media employs people like Gordon Chang, Adrian Zenz, Peter Zeihan and the like, they get it wrong, when the politicians listen to them, they amplify mistakes made by media, which then gives media the opportunity to parrot those mistakes. That's the media side but then there's the military side - Admirals and Generals in the military are getting offers of fantastic jobs and even consultancies while still serving, to "advise" government, the people who make the threats of China are the same people who repeat and amplify them, and, the moment they do, the media jumps on it again to parrot those threats - so, at any given time, China is either collapsing, a huge threat, it's shrinking or it's growing to over-capacity, it's threatening, or it's being threatened - none of it is true

So, why is this important - it's important to understand we can't judge a situation by what we're reading in media - that's not to say that all media is wrong, it's to say that allegations in media aren't proof, and statements from politicians and even witnesses are not evidence - for them to be accepted as proof and treated as evidence they must be counter checked, they must be cross examined, where a statement is made it must ben verified to a point where it's accepted as real and there are many ways to do this.

I've been to Hong Kong, I know it has all the democratic freedoms of other countries, it gained much and lost nothing by being handed back to China it has a free press that can write anything it wants, as long as it complies with written and clearly understood laws. Every person I know in China and in Hong Kong believes the same, I've yet to meet a Hong Konger who hates the Mainland, although I do know there are many of them in the USA and the UK, they never cross my path and yet, every day in media I read that Hong Kong citizens hate the Mainland, hate the CPC and want independence, yet every single witness who states this is outside of Hong Kong, they live in a region that provides them income, pays them for their statements and supports their lifestyles as long as they consistently denigrate their homeland. We're seeing one side of an interpretation of some biased people and statements from people who have a grievance - but go to HK and ask people there, they have a different story.

By the same token, I've never met a Tibetan who hates China, nor have I met a Uyghur in Xinjiang who hates China and wants to be part of a separate country - in my entire time in China I've never met a single Chinese person who wants a US style democracy and, if I suggest it, which I often do over a few beers, I'm laughed off the table as ridiculous and yet, every day I pick up the paper and, in some form or another I read that Chinese people hate their government and need to be rescued from it.

Let me ask again, why is this important - one reason is that, in a recent video I made about a certain country in a certain region doing certain things, many of the respondents are critical of China for not taking certain steps - China could stop trading, expel ambassadors, close their own embassy and rebuke the people responsible - and, while this all seems reasonable it's important to point out that it's not ethical to do so - and to do so would make China no better than the USA - who I firmly believe are a rogue nation in breach of every one of their own agreements as well as international laws - that's not an opinion, that's a fact - they openly admit that they broke every treaty with Native Americans, they openly admit they interfere in elections and other sovereign nations, they openly admit they have military personnel in Taiwan in breach of their own agreements and joint declarations their presidents signed with China and Trump, just the other day, in the White House, openly admitted he destroyed Nord stream 2, something even though it caused international headlines couldn't possibly be true because he wasn't in power when it happened - again, misinformation from the President of the United States, he's clearly not just a narcissist, he's a lying narcissist too.

But that's not what I want to talk about now - let me ask you this: Do you believe your media? In China I do, but in the West I most certainly do not. I've yet to catch Chinese media lying to me but I also know they don't give me all the stories I want to know about - what they do give me though, I can be assured is true and has been checked - in the West I can't.

So, when people tell me that China ought to sanction, censure, cease trading or even take action against a country I have to ask you this again: Despite what we want and what we think of one country, do you believe your media? We all know the answer is no, we don't and yet, all the information we are receiving is coming to us from a source we don't trust.

The truth is, I've watched China get vilified internationally by the US and US influenced countries for the last few years and have fought against it in my social media work - now I'm watching as one other country is vilified. I have a responsibility to apply the same standards to that country as I do to China.

Whatever we think is going on is all allegations - they might be true, they might not - I didn't believe the allegations against China over Xinjiang and I went there to meet locals and find out for myself, I didn't believe the allegations about Xizang (Tibet), so I went there to meet locals and find out for myself.

Before anyone jumps on me and says, it's obvious that Israel is doing something, I agree, it appear obvious, it's appears to be indisputable, and even the ICC has come out and said there is a "plausible" truth to it - but that is not proof, what that means is, there is evidence that needs to be considered before a decision is made. I do believe the allegations and in this video and the previous one, I'm not expressing my own opinions but explaining why China acts the way it acts. I haven't been there to see for myself, I haven't spoken to Palestinians in Palestine, to see what they're going through and, if I start believing everything that I see in the media, it means I should believe everything the same media tells me about China.

Some things are certain and therefore my opinions seem to be supported by what I'm hearing and seeing from the region, there is a lot of damage, there are a lot of dead people, there is a lot of rhetoric about cleaning out the region, all of these can be ascertained as true. But my opinions are not what drive national security, international relations or geopolitics, they are simply my opinions.

I do not for one minute support the side causing the destruction, no one in their right mind can, but there is also the logic of innocent until proven guilty - the moment China says, we will stop trading with one party to this conflict, they are taking sides. The moment they do that, they are no better than the USA as a rogue nation.

If they do that and take a side, they are the same as the USA. disregarding a legal position they need to uphold - one day, there will be arbitration, there will be reparations, there will be a righting of wrongs but before that day comes, there needs to be at least on adult in the room who can be relied upon to have not taken sides and not been a party to the conflict in one way or the other - right now, it looks like China is that adult - it's allowing the presumption of innocence until that presumption has been proven to be wrong rather than acting on allegations which we know can lead to misunderstandings.

Personally, I'd like to see China act more assertively, geopolitically though, it makes sense that they do not - because while they do not, they can hold their heads up globally as being a reliable trading partner that does not listen to allegations in media.

I know this is not what a lot of people want to hear, and I know it doesn't help end the slaughter but I hope that people who hold China in contempt for its inaction can understand, this is the way it must be - otherwise there will never be an end to it and only further escalations. When the ICC and the UN have approved action by China, then China will take action as part of a larger, global organisation, until that time, China needs to do what it always does - act in a mature, responsible and sensible way, handling everything through legal channels and diplomatic means - And, for those who think China is inactive, please take a look at Chinese media, not Western media, or take a moment to google how much aid China has sent to the region, it has been going on for half a century, China is not leaving Palestinians high and dry, it's doing everything it legally and diplomatically can to bring an end to this conflict, it has spoken often and loudly in the UN too - if any organisation is to be held accountable in the future for this, it must be the UN - the power of veto has to be removed and democracy reinstated.