The biggest irony here is that the official constitutional system of China is actually defined as the "People's Democratic Dictatorship" (人民民主专政).
This is not even an insult; it is written directly into Article 1 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.
Article 1 states:
"The People's Republic of China is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants."
(中华人民共和国是工人阶级领导的、以工农联盟为基础的人民民主专政的社会主义国家。)
So, China at least has the intellectual honesty to admit that its own government establishment is a dictatorship, but that it is a bottom-up dictatorship where the working class organized together and pulled down the bourgeois class.
Technically speaking, the Communist Party of China has no right to feel offended when figures like Mao Zedong are labeled dictators, since they themselves consider their system a dictatorship. The offense is only justified in context. They know that according to the worldview of the average Westerner, a "dictatorship" is a title reserved for a figure who governs by a strict top-down model where the rule of law is disregarded and people's rights are violently suppressed. Mao Zedong was not such a figure. He was never among the corrupt oligarchs in China; he emerged as the leader of the party through grassroots class organization. Furthermore, his policies were geared toward unifying China and dismantling the cultural and feudal systems that facilitated imperial extraction.
It is quite funny how many people in the West consider any government not practicing liberal democracy to be a "dictatorship," as if to say their own democracy is not a dictatorship itself. In reality, every political system is fundamentally a dictatorship.
No single figure can rule as a dictator in isolation. Even a leader who emerges from a democratic election still needs loyal heads of the judiciary, the legislature, and the military to legitimize their oppressive policies. Similarly, a military strongman still needs loyal chiefs and oligarchs to suppress public anger and use state propaganda networks to rally the people. All government systems are dictatorships; it all depends on who is doing the dictating. If it is a dictatorship of the ruling capitalist class, then it is a bourgeois dictatorship. If it is a dictatorship of the working class and peasants, then it is a dictatorship of the proletariat.
If Americans truly believe they are not living under a dictatorship, then I challenge them to vote to end the military conquests in the Middle East and completely lift the embargo on Cuba. Clearly, they cannot. Just like in every Western democratic system in the world, the vote is merely political theater designed to maintain the illusion of choice. The ruling class continues to shuffle power among themselves and multiply their wealth, while the poor masses are condemned to carry the full burden of this economic exploitation and imperial blowback.
🚨🚨BREAKING Emmanuel Macron breaks his silence on the Mbappé vs China controversy.
“Let me make one thing very clear. France has absolutely no reason to panic because a meme has offended people in China. Kylian Mbappé laughed at jokes about himself, and somehow, this has become an international controversy. Are we serious right now?
I have more important matters to deal with than explaining to people why a French footballer is allowed to laugh at memes about his own life. Mbappé has represented France on the biggest stages in world football, and I will not watch him being treated like a criminal for something this ridiculous.
If the Chinese government or anyone else wants to take this matter a step further, then France is prepared to respond accordingly. We will not be pressured into apologising simply because people have decided to take a joke personally. Respect must work both ways.
Let me also make this clear: France will not allow anyone to dictate how our citizens should speak, think or react. You cannot spend years mocking someone and then become offended when that same person laughs along with the jokes.
If they want to turn a meme into a diplomatic issue, that is their choice. But France has no intention of making this bigger than it needs to be. Mbappé has my support, and we have far more important things to worry about than internet memes.”
🇫🇷France stands with Mbappé!