American political commentator Hasan Piker, influential among young audiences, spoke to the South China Morning Post about his first trip to China, claiming Americans are taught to hate the country, which he called stupid. He said the visit aimed to show that China is not the hermit kingdom often portrayed but has developed tremendously, yielding real prosperity for its citizens.
Hasan Piker, one of the most influential political commentators among young Americans, knew his first trip to China would provoke backlash. What he did not expect was how quickly the debate would collapse into a binary: propaganda or patriotism.
Clips of his visit circulated widely, some carried by Chinese state-linked outlets. In one viral video, Piker was heard saying 'I have no patriotism in my heart,' leading many Western commentators to accuse him of acting as soft power for Beijing.
When asked directly what his core political motivation was for the trip and how that intention aligned with the way his visit was framed in Chinese state media, Piker rejected the premise that visibility equals endorsement. 'My motivation was to show that China isn’t this hermit kingdom the way it’s often presented,' he said in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post. 'It’s actually developed tremendously. It’s yielded real prosperity for its citizens.'
Pressed on whether that framing dovetailed uncomfortably with Beijing’s preferred narrative, Piker acknowledged the risk but argued it was unavoidable. A related video snippet notes Piker saying the Chinese social contract outperforms the US’s.
The discussion highlights tensions in perceptions of China in the US, with Piker's trip touching on locations like Beijing and topics including the Communist Party, amid broader US-China relations.
