Time: Mon Mar 03 08:46:21 1997
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Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 08:37:58 -0800
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From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: C-NEWS:ForeignCorrespondent TAMING THE CHINESE DRAGON
<snip>
> Foreign Correspondent
>
> Inside Track On World News
> By International Syndicated Columnist & Broadcaster
> Eric Margolis <emargolis@lglobal.com>
>
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> TAMING THE CHINESE DRAGON
> by Eric Margolis
> February 27, 1997
>
>`China,' a worried reader writes, `scares the hell out of
>me.' Another angry writer asks, `How can you claim China is
>progressing? Everyone knows China is the world's worst
>violator of human rights.'
>
>During the era of Chairman Mao, when China was indeed an
>international threat and a ferocious tyranny, many in the
>western media fawned on China. In a remarkable irony, after
>the late Deng Xiaoping liberalized almost every aspect of
>life in China, setting the nation on the path to more
>political and personal freedom, the western media turned
>against China like a scorned lover, making it international
>public enemy number one.
>
>What most critics don't understand is the difference between
>a totalitarian state and an authoritarian one.
>
>In a totalitarian state - like the Soviet Union, Maoist
>China, or modern-day Cuba and North Korea - the communist
>party controls every aspect of people's lives. The party
>grants all jobs, and thus personal income. It doles out
>places in schools and universities; pensions; medical care;
>internal and external travel; and consumer goods.
>
>Naive Canadian tourists to Cuba, for example, often say they
>see no signs of a police state. A true totalitarian state
>does not need police on every corner: it has terrorized
>people into policing themselves. Every apartment building,
>every city block, factory and school, every military unit,
>has an official communist `watcher,' and secret informers.
>Deviation from the party line means loss of apartment, job,
>pension. Aged parents can loose their pensions and be
>evicted. Children denied schooling, medical care, and
>careers. If you fail to report political deviation of a
>friend, relative or co-worker to the secret police, you and
>your family will be punished, or jailed.
>
>This was the system Deng inherited from Mao. In addition,
>much of China's youth had become automatons, brainwashed
>into the demented cult of Maoism. I vividly recall China of
>the 1960's and early 70's, a giant prison camp where all
>inmates wore the same uniforms and spouted the same moronic
>slogans.
>
>Deng junked economic marxism, allowing Chinese a great
>degree of economic freedom - which, let's recall - is
>equally important as political freedom. Freer speech and
>some open criticism of government was permitted. Attempts
>to change the regime were not. This is authoritarianism:
>People can do what they like, so long as they avoid
>political action.
>
>Today, 90% of all village committees in China - the basic
>unit of government - are elected. The party's power is
>slipping fast. China is slowly writing a body of law to
>protect citizen's rights. Opponents of government are no
>longer `enemies of the people.' China's economic explosion
>has broken the grip of government over people's lives and
>over many regions - notably Szechuan and the south.
>
>Having abandoned totalitarianism and communist economics,
>China is reverting to its 5,000-year old traditional system
>of Confucian authoritarian government. Many Asians prefer
>this system to western-style, special-interest democracy.
>
>Still, China remains a serious abuser of human rights. The
>Lao Gai, China's gulag, is packed with political prisoners.
>Tibetans, Muslims, and political opponents, are brutally
>suppressed.
>
>But China seems clearly headed for more dramatic
>liberalization. A booming 21st century economy will further
>diminish the power of the central government. The current
>regime, under Jiang Zemin, is clearly transitional. Dinosaur
>Communism in the Soviet Union and East Europe was brought
>down by the rebellion of a new generation of younger
>leaders. The same will happen in China - but perhaps not as
>quickly.
>
>China has never known democracy. Expecting this great,
>ancient nation to instantly blossom into an Asian Athens is
>a nonsense. We should stop acting like missionaries with
>China and allow it to develop at its own pace -albeit with
>our steady but discreet prodding over human and ethnic
>rights. Scourging China will only drive it backwards.
>
>copyright eric margolis 1997
>
>*****************************************************************
>
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