F1 and Human Rights

To put it bluntly, regardless of how F1 pretends to care about human rights via its “We Race As One” nonsense, F1 does not care one iota about human rights.

I’m a man who was born to two Chinese parents (a father born in Guangzhou, mainland China and a mother born in Hong Kong), so every time the subject of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan & Macau appears on the news, I pay huge attention. I am extremely concerned at the attempts of sportswashing and soft power propaganda acts the Chinese Communist Party pulls off into order to win favour with westerners and outsiders to divert attention from the atrocities it commits upon its own people. So don’t waste your time calling me a self-hating racist because the stuff that members of the F1 stan community considers offensive (mostly so-called micro-aggressions) is a walk in the park compared to the extremely real issues I’m about to talk about.

My father’s side of the family has witnessed a lot of atrocities. His grandmother (from Mexico) was sent to gulag and never seen again, his family bed & breakfast business was repossessed by the Commies and his mother died because her lung cancer was misdiagnosed as pneumonia. The corruption inflicted by the Communists has seen doctors being beaten on the streets and my father grew up without a fridge because access to clean water, electricity and other things required to be seen as acceptable living conditions were unavailable for the normal population.

My beef with Guanyu Zhou‘s entry into F1 is multifaceted. His junior record is mediocre at best- two wins in 3 years of Formula 3, beating teen rookie Pierre-Louis Chouvet (who doesn’t even have a seat in any series currently) narrowly in the Asian F3 series and appearing on course to finish runner-up to rookie Oscar Piastri in his 3rd year of Formula 2. My opinion on F2 drivers is that if they haven’t finished in the top 3 by their 2nd season, they probably haven’t got a future as a decent driver in F1.

My next problem with Guanyu Zhou is the fact he must likely will be used as a soft power propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). For those who have read the news recently, tennis star Peng Shuai has gone missing due to allegations of sexual assault against a government official close to Xi Jinping. From Zhou’s Instagram page, he portrays himself as this cuddly, sweet character- almost like a Chinese Justin Bieber- and Zhou’s fangirls in the West describe him as one of the least “problematic” characters on the grid. However, his close affiliation with the CCP alone makes him extremely problematic. From the prison camps in Xinjiang and Tibet, to the silencing of political dissidents who speak out against the CCP, to the extreme environmental damage done to the native Chinese living conditions, to the police abuse of protestors in Hong Kong, to the extreme spiritual damage committed by Mao’s Cultural Revolution and the demographic fracas incurred by the One Child policy (which sees China’s population consist of 30 million more men than women due to Chinese couple’s preferences for boys over girls in order to pass on their family surname, as well as the low birth rate which the CCP is trying (but failing) to retify by raising the birth limit for couples to 3 children), there’s a lot to be concerned about. In addition, there’s been the recent border conflict around the Tibet region with India and endless talk of “taking back” Taiwan (who currently call themselves the Republic of China due to being taken over by the defeated Kuomintang party in 1949, whilst CCP China is called “People’s Republic of China), when Taiwan has never been a part of mainland China from a historical perspective.

For those wondering why CCP is really intent on increasing the birthrate, it’s partly due to the increasing numbers of ageing people, but also because they want a multitude of young men to sacrifice for any future military conflicts they want to partake in, whether it’s against India, Taiwan, USA or whoever.

Add to the fact that any racist abuse against Guanyu Zhou could be exploited by the CCP to paint him as a poor victim in the eyes in front of the Western media, his presence could serve as a smokescreen for Communist China’s economic and political activities around the globe. To put it honestly, if Zhou does well, it’s sportswashing. However, his questionable junior career makes me doubt Zhou will be successful in his F1 endeavours and the Chinese attitude towards mediocrity is damning. Many Chinese (whether it’s the mainlanders or the diaspora) are well aware of the fact Zhou has required huge state backing to enter F1 and there’s not much excitement nor anticipation for his prospects.

My other problem with Zhou’s entry into F1 lies with Liberty Media. Stefano Domenicali’s idiotic statement that F1’s participation in countries with questionable human rights record raises awareness of these issues. The fact is, however, F1 does not have any importance in world affairs, it’s nothing than a circus with expensive race cars and a bunch of overbloated egos. The only time F1 has ever really influenced world politics is when a few teams boycotted 1985 South African GP over apartheid, which was shortly followed by F1 abandoning the South African GP from 1986 onwards. When apartheid ended, F1 returned to South Africa in 1992 ad 1993, only to withdraw again due to lack of funds. The fact is Liberty Media openly pushed Alfa Romeo is sign Zhou for the sake of widening its marketing appeal in China.

I’ll be very honest with you: I firmly believe the coronavirus originated from Wuhan. I do not believe it was intentional, but I believe it was an accidental leak from a lab. I have major criticisms of western politicians (starting with Jimmy Carter, ex-US president) who have business leaks to Chinese companies and justified their decisions with the misguided view that China would embrace liberalism and democracy. It’s not that simple: China’s history is one of dynasties and a control for power over resources, land and various ethnic groups. It’s always been my own personal belief that the only to ensure any hopes of better human rights for the mainland Chinese population is secession and division of China. It has 1.4 billion people- yes, I know India itself has 1.4 billion people and has a democratic system- but in the case of China, to implement democracy is a tricky one and could end up seeing the country end up with a Putin-style dictator.

On the subject of social media users who have opposed Zhou’s arrival into F1, 99% of those who oppose his entry have justifiably based their argument on his junior record and lack of success. It has very little (if none at all) to do with them having racist attitudes towards Zhou because I believe most F1 fans want the closest thing to a grid consisting of the best 20 drivers in the world, regardless of race, gender, sexuality etc.

But for me, I can see the clash of political values between the homeland of F1 (western European nations who embrace liberalism and democracy) versus nations with dictatorships (China, Russia and the middle East). I’m obviously not ignorant of human rights abuses western nations have committed in the past (F1 raced in Spain during Franco’s regime or racing in Britain during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland), but free speech and freedom of association is something that exists in the west, but doesn’t in the nations under fire. The fact is F1 has raced in newly-industrialised nations such as Malaysia, China and others for over 20 years, but the motorsport infrastructure (such as FIA Grade 2 standard circuits not being built- most Asian circuits outside of Japan have been given a Grade 3 or below) there remains the same, if not worse. The presence of F1 Grands Prix has done little to increase enthusiasm nor interest in these regions, partly due to economics but also the fact that most young children have no pathways to becoming a F1 driver (except being born in a wealthy family). With the notable exception of Japan, motorsport in Asia is not growing whatsoever. It’s mostly seen as a pastime for the wealthy, whilst the plebs prefer basketball, baseball and other more accessible sports. Add to the mercurial climate of Asia, where it can be sweltering hot one minute and the typhoon-like conditions the next, it’s not really hard to work out why motorsports struggles to blossom in this part of the world.

Ultimately, F1 once again fails to disguise its apathy towards human rights. If truth be told, it never did express interest in promoting human rights in the past and certainly not in the “good old days”. F1 has never cared about morals, it has always been solely concerned about the pursuit of success. Individuals such as Hamilton and Vettel may be willing to back their words up with actions (even if you don’t agree with their views, at least you have respect them for being proactive off-track), but frankly I’d prefer other drivers not to kneel and openly express apathy like Raikkonen because at least they’re being honest and not trying to embellish their image. (Although it must be noted drivers’ preferences on whether to kneel or not depends on their team, nationality and sponsors- Orlen prefers Alfa Romeo’s drivers not to kneel because of Polish people’s opposition towards kneeling for BLM and concerns over its communist affiliations, Ferrari drivers don’t kneel because the Scuderia is seen as a symbol of Italian patriotism, whilst drivers from Russia & Japan have opted not to kneel due to similar issues).

To those criticising people for attacking F1 for racing in China, Russia & middle East, but not in certain western nations, I believe this is serious case of whataboutery. No, the west is not perfect, but you are free to express your opposition against certain politicians without the threat of persecution, execution or other forms of torture which you can see on other parts of the internet. In addition, Communist China has tight regulations over what their citizens can see on the news, the internet or other media sources and those found guilty of inviolating these laws can be imprisoned indefinitely.

China under communist rule is not on the road to enlightenment, it is on the road to ruin and disaster with its impending demographic crisis, its unpredictable state government and its worsening public image to outsiders. Stop making excuses and treating CCP China like it’s a poor victim being bullied by the West because you do not care about its people and the fact that they are facing a bleak future where they will continue to be exploited as slave labour and subject to endless nationalistic mind control.

All the success that you see from mainland Chinese athletes achieve is sportswashing. Yes, they might be very determined, self-driven individuals, but the price of them speaking out against CCP can be very severe. Last year, China’s all-time football top scorer Hao Haidong declared his belief that the Chinese Chinese Party needed to be ousted and his name was subsequently doxxed and censored on Chinese social media Weibo.

So unlike other drivers I’ve slagged off (Mazepin, Stroll, Alonso etc.), I will not be making open tweets about Guanyu Zhou on Twitter. Zhou represents something far more serious than just any other driver on the grid, he’s a political pawn for the CCP and his behaviour and actions will be dictated at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party. This is not a laughing matter.