China's Totalitarian Crackdown

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 20, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                             

                 Responding with brute force, Chinese authorities squelched online calls for a “Jasmine Revolution,” inspired by pro-democracy movements in the Middle East, especially revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.  White House officials have no problem condemning Israel for construction activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank but say nothing when Chinese authorities mow down pro-reform demonstrators in the streets.  U.S. officials said little when Chinese tanks April 14, 1989 rolled over demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, killing thousands crying out for freedom.  With so much U.S. manufacturing shifting to China’s cheap-labor markets, American authorities ignore the communist state’s egregious abuses of individual and human rights.  Chinese authorities intercepted texts and emails calling for “Jasmine Revolution,” the name given Tunisia’s recent liberation.

            Since Tiananmen Square, China served notice that there’s no tolerance for pro-democracy demonstrators.  China’s current leadership, led by President Hu Jintao, follows the Maoist prescription for managing dissent:  Mass murder.  Whatever minor improvements over the years in China’s human rights, it largely window dressing compared with the unwritten green light to use violence to squelch pro-democracy demonstrations.  Pro-democracy protests in Egypt, Tunisa, Bahrain, Yemnen, Algeria and Libya all show oppressed populations seeking to speak out.  Recent demonstrations in Tehran met the same violent response as China.  Both governments know that only massive force discourages individuals from protesting.  China showed no hesitation cutting off Internet and cell phone service, something tried unsuccessfully in Egypt before Mubarak’s government fell Feb. 11.

            Blocking Web sites like Facebook and Twitter or cell phone service is par for the course by China’s communist government.  Putting more McDonalds or selling more GM cars in Beijing or Shanghai hasn’t stopped China from pulling out all stops when it comes to squelching pro-democracy movements.   China’s exposure via the Internet to the outside world shows a more literate population the kind of freedoms enjoyed by less totalitarian regimes.  Chinese officials like to pretend at international conferences, like this weekend’s G-20 in Paris, it subscribes to the same Western values of openness and tolerance.  In reality, there’s no tolerance by the Chinese communists [ChiComs] for any kind of political dissent or demands by a more enlightened population for individuals and human rights.  President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said nothing.

            Chinese President Hu Jintao wasted no time pre-empting possible pro-democracy demonstrations, ordering local government to respond with massive force, no matter what the provocation.  “Lots of people in here are Twitter users and came to watch like me,” said 42-year-old Hu Di.  “Actually this didn’t have much organization, but it’s a chance to meet each other.  It’s like preparing for the future,” hinting at a kind of quiet resistance that one could one day topple to ChiCom government.  Hu Di’s fantasies of an eventual revolution have no basis in reality.  Whenever the government sniffs out some protests, it crackdowns immediately to prevent the kind of developments seen in North Africa and the Middle East.   China’s plainclothes secret police, like the ayatollah’s secret police in Iran, prevents anything from developing into a real protest movement or eventual revolution.

            Wasting no time nipping protests in the bud, Chinese authorities scoured Internet sites in Beijing, Shanghai Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu.  Dozens of detentions, arrests and confiscations were made by local authorities, disrupting insurgents from voicing objections to totalitarian communist rule.  “I’m quite scared because they took away my phone.  I just put down some white flowers, what’s wrong with that?” asked 25-year-old Liu Xiaobai, placing a jasmine flower in front the local Beijing McDonalds  “I’m just a normal citizen and I just want peace,” said Liu, getting her first taste of how fast authorities crack down in China.  Obama and Clinton can’t sit idly by while China flexes its muscles at the expense of individual and human rights.  Does it really rock trade relations to speak openly about China’s abysmal record on individual and human rights?

            U.S. officials can’t have a hypocritical policy on individual and human rights, cherry picking where they can speak out on China’s abuses.  Since the late President Richard M. Nixon opened up trade relations in 1972, no one could have imagined the colossal shift in manufacturing away from the U.S. and to China.  Over the last 40 years, American big business ignored human rights abuses to establish profit-driven manufacturing in China.  Today’s human rights abuses warrant second thoughts about where Sino-American relations really stand.  As long as the current regime ignores individual and human rights, the U.S. government should, at the very least, air publicly China’s abysmal human rights’ record.  Shutting off the Internet, jamming cell phone signals and blocking communication can’t stop a pro-democracy movement from eventually taking hold.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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