If bad guys do something, it's bad. If good guys do the same thing, it's good.
China did an extreme move here. It’s bad. It’s not slave camps but more education camps or indoctrination camps. It’s forced indoctrination into modern society.
The thing with this is that it destroys cultures and eliminates freedoms but it is largely effective in the long run. Terrorist attacks no longer happen. People are not getting slaughtered by terrorist attacks anymore. Part of the question is which evil do you prefer more? There’s no easy answer. But western propaganda paints only one side of the story here.
Arguably there’s less blood on government hands here for China. The resulting war after 9/11 killed far more innocents than the education camps.
And it’s not just this. When you make progress and societal well being putting it as a priority ahead of individual freedoms you get china building an entire network of rail systems in less then a decade when California can’t even build a single high speed rail in 3 decades because it obstructs some nimbys freedom to have a good view.
"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."
And the US didn't start camps after 9/11.
Civilization is the same everywhere. Utopia can’t exist because of fundamental aspects of human nature.
I think the real difference between the US and China is that the US is sort of delusional. They hide the truth of themselves and live under a mirage of moral idealism while Chinese people are fully aware of the moral issues with their own government.
A good example is you. You’re well aware of Guantanamo bay and extraordinary rendition. Your delusion just prevents you from thinking about it.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_St...