We’re just as fond of Chinese currency as Disney executives
NOW, before we get too selfrighteous about Disney’s sucking up to the Chinese Communist dictatorship with its new film Mulan – which will, no doubt, be streamed by thousands of us Irish in the comfort of our own homes – we should have a look at the beam in our own eye.
The Disney image has been taking a justifiable hit of late because the film, which celebrates an old Chinese legend, plays into the current Chinese narrative that promotes nationalism, sacrifice and order.
Also, Mulan’s lead actor Liu Yifei complicated things with her online support last year for the Hong Kong police – and we all know what they’ve been at.
Disney shaped the film in a manner that pleased the Commie overlords in China, including editing out a love scene. They have also gone along with a reshaping of the Mulan legend, from her being a member of a Mongolic tribe to having the dominant Han ethnicity favoured by Chinese leader for life, Xi Jinping.
There is also the troublesome fact that some of Mulan was shot in Xinjiang province, an area of China now feeling the full brunt of Communist oppression, involving the internment without trial of up to three million people, separation of children from parents and forced abortions on a grand scale.
All courtesy of the delightful Xi Jinping, whom we all recall trying his hand at a spot of hurling at Croke Park during a visit to Ireland in 2012. Sound puck of the ball.
Ireland’s trade with China has been racing ahead in the meantime. Last year, Irish exports to China were just short of €8bn according to the UN’s COMTRADE database.
The inconvenient truth is that we Irish are as flawed as Disney when it comes to hard currency. We too put on the blinkers and proceed on the basis of filthy lucre selfinterest, ignoring as best we can – and we can – the most outrageous examples of human rights violations occurring all around us.