US Republican senators confront Netflix over Chinese sci-fi show
Five Republican US senators have confronted Netflix over the streaming giant’s intend to adapt a Chinese sci-fi book trilogy, expressing concern over the original author’s comments about claims of forced labor in Xinjiang.
Liu Cixin’s bestselling “The Three-Body Problem,” which tells the story of humanity’s first contact with aliens, is set to become a major Netflix series co-written by the creators of “Game of Thrones.”
In a letter to content boss Ted Sarandos, the senators accused Liu of “parroting dangerous [Communist Party] propaganda” and suggested Netflix was “providing a platform to Mr Liu in creating this project.”
They highlighted a fresh Yorker article from last year in which Liu is quoted defending mass internment in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, where activists say multiple million Uighurs and other Muslim Turkic-speaking persons have been incarcerated in camps.
“Would you rather that they be hacking away at bodies at train stations and schools in terrorist attacks?” Liu told the magazine. “If anything, the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty.”
According to the senators’ letter, adapting Liu’s work would represent “the normalization of, or apologism for, these crimes.”
“We ask Netflix to earnestly reconsider the implications of providing a platform to Mr Liu in creating this project,” it concluded.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a obtain comment.
President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up pressure on China on a wide selection of issues, imposing sanctions over policies in Xinjiang.
With Trump’s reelection bid looming closer, Republicans recently pulled Netflix in to the US election fray with another row over French film “Cuties,” accused of sexualizing girls.
Conservative activists say the drama is a by-product of an overly liberal culture often connected with Hollywood - and that it promotes pedophilia.
Its director denied the charges and said the movie is a critique of the over-sexualization of young girls.
Republicans have also remarked that Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings is a substantial Democratic donor.
Liu’s father joined the Communists during China’s civil war, but was later delivered to work in coal mines in the country’s north, as the author himself is referred to as “no dissident” in the brand new Yorker profile.
The trilogy by Liu - whose famous fans include former president Barack Obama - imagines another history in which a female Chinese astrophysicist makes connection with an alien civilization, prompting global fears of an invasion.
Netflix announced its adaptation earlier this month, with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson serving as an executive producer, along with Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment company.
“Game of Thrones” duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will co-write the series.
In an official statement at the time, Liu said the apocalyptic series “transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races.”
