Chen Weihua, a columnist for the Chinese Communist Party-run China Daily, attacked the Holocaust Memorial Museum over its criticisms of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
After the museum tweeted a video comparing the 2022 Winter Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Olympics due to their propaganda value and both China and Nazi Germany’s persecution of minorities, Chen accused it of downplaying the Holocaust. The columnist is a prominent denier of the Uyghur genocide and has accused the U.S. of allying with terrorist groups due to its opposition. (RELATED: Chinese Ambassador Denies Uyghur Genocide, Claims They Are Happy)
“Are you saying Nazi Holocaust of Jews was nothing but vocational training? More than 30,000 Jews sought refuge in Shanghai during the war and this is now your appreciation to the Chinese people?” he asked.
Shame on the Holocaust Museum. Are you saying Nazi Holocaust of Jews was nothing but vocational training? More than 30,000 Jews sought refuge in Shanghai during the war and this is now your appreciation to the Chinese people?
— Chen Weihua （陈卫华） (@chenweihua) February 8, 2022
Many Jews did escape to Shanghai during the Holocaust due to the city’s free immigration policy. Shanghai, however, was not under the control of the Chinese Communist Party until after World War II. It was under the control of the Chinese Nationalists, enemies of the communists, until 1937 when it was captured by Japan, who occupied the city for the duration of World War II. Many Jews also lived in the districts of the city under European control.
China Daily U.S. is required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as an entity controlled by China Daily of Beijing, a newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party.
“You think because pre-Maoist China did the right thing by saving 30,000 Jews it gives today’s CCP carte blanche to operate concentration camps and actively persecute more than a million Uighurs?!” former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind shot back.
You think because pre-Maoist China did the right thing by saving 30,000 Jews it gives today’s CCP carte blanche to operate concentration camps and actively persecute more than a million Uighurs?!
You do realize that outside of China people have access to the facts, right? #fool
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) February 8, 2022
Weihua responded by describing Hikind as “ignorant,” “brainwashed and fooled.” This was not the first time that Weihua resorted to insults during an exchange with a critic. He described Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn as a “lifetime bitch” after she claimed that China has a “5,000-year history of cheating and stealing.”
Several countries, most notably the U.S., are employing a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi urged American Olympians to stay silent on human rights issues during the games to avoid “incurring the anger of the Chinese government.”