Beijing’s Repression Remains Ruthless
A year after the release of Charter 08 and the arrest of one of its writers, Liu Xiaobo, the Financial Times looks at the current situation of dissent and repression in China:
The Chinese authorities have been very successful at keeping dissidents on the margins of society. Chinese repression is ruthlessly efficient; Mr Liu suffered the brutal side and other human rights activists have been arrested or harassed over the past year. But some of the other Charter 08 signatories were asked in “for a cup of tea” or given a quiet warning. There are carrots as well as sticks.
Charter 77 connected to the liberal tradition of 1920s leader Thomas Masaryk and Charter 08 was printed in the New York Review of Books. But its enlightenment and foreign tone put off some Chinese intellectuals.
Yet the appeal of Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77 was broader than simply setting out political ideals; it was also about blue jeans and rock ‘n’ roll and, above all, it was about irony. Here the parallels are less comfortable for the authorities.
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In the absence of opinion polls or elections to gauge the public mood towards the authorities in China, anecdotes are sometimes the best guide. Twenty years after the army stormed the square to get rid of protesters, the Tiananmen crowd revealed the broad acquiescence that the Chinese Communist party enjoys.
That is the reality faced by supporters of Charter 08, a pro-democracy manifesto which had a melancholy first anniversary on Thursday. Liu Xiaobo, one of the organisers, has spent the past 12 months in prison and this week moved closer to being formally indicted for subversion.
Learn from me, for I am humble and lowly in heart. I have also told my people that my enterprise may failed and the people must be on guard against trouble-makers. I taught the world that political stability is paramount, economic development is human rights, trouble-makers must be locked up, so that the rest of the population may progress and move on and move up and enjoy the greatest of freedoms. See how my people love me and praise me after 60 years of undisturbed development. The people of China will love and praise the CCP too sincerely from their hearts well-being for generations and generations!
Lee Kuan Yew