Technology

"Poor soft power projection" is just revealed a most blatantly western lens when it comes to assessing a nation's culture. The idea of "soft power" as if its a good thing only works if you see your own cultural artforms and media to be superior to those of others, and subsequently end up supplanting that of a "weaker" culture. US "soft power" only serves to stifle local culture by overshadowing it with foreign US media and norms, and in some cases eradicating the interest and cultural norms of a people (particularly in the youth). Most Europeans all follow the same fashion, watch the same films and listen to the same music, much of which comes from the US, and this is supposedly a good thing? I'd say that regardless of who's doing it, this sort of "power projection" isn't something to yearn for.

I'm not sure if this was done on purpose, but you've just echoed the same criticisms that the western msm always directs at China. Each and every one of these examples is projection, whether or not you agree that China deserves the criticism.

1. Take a drive through rural USA or Canada. I think that you'll find China isn't the only one struggling with this. China has prioritized equal development while the west continues to let its rural towns and villages fall further into poverty and disrepair.
2. China used to have several cities in the top 10 for the worst air quality. Now they have none. China leads the world in renewable energy research, development, and deployment. The USA has placed large tariffs on Chinese made EVs and renewable equipment. The USA is doing its best to ensure our demise through climate change.
3. Why is this a problem? All countries experience slowed population growth or even decline as they become more developed. What's so different about China that they can't simply increase immigration like other developed nations? What is actually different is that their economic system will allow them to transition low skill, manual labor industries to automation without increased unemployment that decimates the working class.
4. This problem has been solved. The CPC popped the bubble. Some developers that didn't heed the warning went bankrupt. The state has said that they will fund purchasing the finished, unsold units and use it for affordable housing.
5. The west's three letter agencies are the most invasive on the planet with their massive web of data collection and backdoors. The USA holds the largest population of prisoners on the planet while having about 20% of China's population.
6. This one feels a bit out of place since it's not really something that the west's msm mentions. As a supporter of China, I do wish that they would do more in this area, but their non interventionist policy is likely an important factor in their ability to challenge western hegemony today. The arts, while important, isn't something that people have the time to care about when living in extreme poverty. It makes sense that they prioritized economic development above this. Meanwhile, the west is doing its best to replace artists with LLMs and generative AI.
7. In what way? Because they don't have legalized gay marriage? It's silly to project the values of a society that has been at the top in terms of economic development on a society that has just reached the middle to high stage. As Marxist, we have to remember that everything is a process. I'm certain that as China develops, so will their culture, and as a result, so will their policy on LGBTQ+ rights. However, in the meantime, we should also understand that just because state policy may not take LGBTQ+ rights into consideration much at this time, that doesn't mean that discrimination against this group is a massive problem. Sure, Obama/SCOTUS legalized gay marriage (yes it was that recent), but there are still those in the country who will refuse service to members of the community and the state has completely politicized the issue using the msm to promote a culture war.