Recently I was reading an article that caught my attention because of the observations made there regarding China, and I thought it was very peculiar to talk about things that are also observed in the United States, and then it came to my mind that in a way they are like brothers, hence the title: You are so much like me.
In that publication several topics are mentioned, but I will emphasize only some of the most important ones:
In China there is no separation of powers
The Chinese government has been described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian, with tight restrictions in many areas, especially with regard to the Internet, press, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights and freedom of religion.
Compared to its closed policies until the mid-1970s, China's liberalization has resulted in a less restrictive administrative climate than before. The country strongly supports the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism," but Chinese politics is very different from the liberal democracy or social democracy adopted in most countries of the Western world, and the National People's Congress has been described as an institution that in practice is very dependent on the central government.
The powers in the U.S.
In the days prior to the recent electoral outcome, the news broke: Trump appoints Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court of Justice.
In the United States, the selection of the highest authority in charge of the administration of Justice is appointed by the President in office.
On the other hand, while it is true that elections are held in the nation for the election of public offices, it is also true that it is a somewhat more complicated system than giving the winner to the person who receives the highest number of votes from the population. In reality, it is a second-degree election, where the real power of choice is vested in state delegates, who in theory should reflect the will of the voting people. This can also be seen as a concentration of power.
All means of communication belong to the State
Beijing's Global Megaphone, a recent Freedom House report released on January 14, shows how China uses propaganda, censorship and content distribution systems to control global public opinion abroad.
One of the Chinese Communist Party's main methods of spreading its propaganda is its state-owned channels that publish abroad in multiple languages, according to the report, which estimates that in 2009 alone the Chinese government spent $6 billion to expand state media.
Influence from the Union
To continue with the previous theme in this segment, it can be understood that precisely because of the differences in the mechanisms between the states, historically it has been the major U.S. media that, after confirming their "projections" among themselves, make the announcement of the result and this is consolidated after the fact, even if the vote counts take days, as is usual in the United States.
In this order of ideas, the following publication by former President Trump is self-explanatory:
"All of us know why Joe Biden is wrongly rushing to make himself out to be the winner and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don't want the truth exposed. The simple fact is that this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any state, let alone highly contested states that are headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor. In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not allowed meaningful access to observe the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the media."
Today President Biden is widely recognized as the elected leader, but looking back at all the events of those days, it is clear the media control that also manifests itself in the U.S. nation with global projection, to which in that scenario, we can also add all that social networks mean under its spectrum.
Control of social life in China
The Communist Party controls -usually through political commissars, delegates, etc- any entity or association of what would become the social fabric of the country, from the chambers of commerce to the petanque clubs. Even the large private Chinese companies. Not to mention the Internet, tightly controlled through a "great digital wall".
The incorporation of technology to track the behavior of people in places such as schools, and thus be able to have in real time the performance of these in their studies, thanks to an algorithm that can identify different emotions in the classroom. Or for the identification of individuals in public spaces in order to provide support to law enforcement agencies, are some of the elements that are framed within the actions of social control.
These technologies in recent years have begun to be exported for the same purposes to other countries, a field in which the technological powers of the world are also competing.
Data collection for U.S. Security
Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are U.S. law enforcement agencies, although each does so in a different field. While the CIA collects information on foreign countries and citizens that concerns national security, the FBI focuses on crimes committed on U.S. soil and, unlike the CIA, can investigate U.S. citizens, businesses and residents.
The FBI was created in 1908 as a special group within the Department of Justice. This agency focuses on national security threats such as terrorism, cyber-attacks and espionage by gathering and analyzing information, in addition to federal law enforcement. The FBI collects information that serves both to solve the crimes it investigates and to collaborate with other law enforcement agencies in the country, and has about 35,000 agents and analysts of different specialties working both inside and outside the United States.
The CIA, for its part, was created in 1946, after World War II. Its original mission was to halt the spread of communism during the Cold War, but the changing international context has led to changes in its objectives. Today, the Agency collects and analyzes information at the international level to assist the government in foreign policy decisions. Some of the issues on which the CIA focuses are nuclear non-proliferation, terrorism, international organized crime or narcotics trafficking. Although the CIA operates both inside and outside the United States, it cannot collect information about U.S. citizens or companies regardless of the country in which they are located, or about immigrants legally residing in the country.
These are only two of the many agencies that the United States has to deal with everything related to social control, and as it has already become evident in these two examples, the scope in this case, is much wider, since it not only deals with domestic matters, but also with the rest of the world.
Conclusion
In this small glimpse that we have given to some of the elements that characterize this pair of giants, we can conclude that in the end they are not so different from each other, they only vary perhaps in their points of view, and the ways in which they apply their methods. In my opinion I could say that in reality they can be catalogued in a certain way as brothers with a great responsibility on their shoulders, and that their decisions operate for better or for worse on many souls.
Resources:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol%C3%ADtica_de_la_Rep%C3%BAblica_Popular_China
https://share.america.gov/es/informe-muestra-manipulacion-mediatica-mundial-por-parte-de-china/
https://elordenmundial.com/diferencia-entre-el-fbi-y-la-cia/
