Whether you are interested in China, politics, ethics, the promotion of freedom or more generally the well-being of fellow human beings, the recent resurgence of Chinese crackdowns on ‘dissidents’ is a subject you should begin to closely follow. Over the past month or so, the Communist government in China has engaged in a large-scale crackdown on writers, lawyers and activists who have been openly criticizing the Party, either through blogs, Twitter or public demonstrations. This has all been part of the Chinese government’s attempts to prevent the development of the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, a movement than spanned over 30 cities in China, inspired by the recent Middle Eastern uprisings. In China, due to the general censorship of delicate information, and the blocking of websites including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube (though these have equivalents that are monitored by the government), the main medium of information sharing has become the blog forum. Although these blog forums are also monitored by the government, many people have found ways of bypassing the Communist radar by substituting sensitive words (such as ‘Ai Weiwei’) with similar-sounding terms that government officials do not see as menacing to the state. Freshman Archer Wang and Scott Savitt, a freelance writer, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that it is likely that these blogs and forums that have fueled the Jasmine Revolution.
Cracking the Whip
This surge in crackdowns has been the latest development in the Communist Party’s attempt to force a valve onto the rising wave of dissent. Several of the most prominent critics of the government have been imprisoned by the police and not heard from since. For example, Teng Biao, an outspoken pro-democracy lawyer, became very vocal about the corruption of the police and was a signatory on the famous ‘Charter 08’, which called for reform of China’s human rights laws. The day after he visited the home of another fellow activist, he disappeared. Several other activists have either disappeared or have been imprisoned and released after being beaten, including Liu Shasha, who was beaten, drenched in cold water and gagged with a cloth soaked in spicy chili oil. However, the activist who has been the most talked about around the world is Ai Weiwei, the artistic designer of the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium and long-time public dissident of the Communist party.
Son of a famous poet and ally of Mao Zedong, Weiwei produced an artistic photograph last year of himself naked, covering his genitals with a toy horse. The caption at the bottom of the photograph can be interpreted as “F**k you, Central Party Committee.” Additionally, Weiwei recently created a documentary on the brutality of the Chinese police, who beat him while he was on his way to Sichuan to document the 2008 earthquake. This was the last straw for China’s internal security forces, led by hardliner Zhou Yongkang (former Minister of Public Security, and current head of the Central Political and Legislative Committee). On April 3rd, Weiwei was detained by the police in Beijing as he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong. He has not been heard from since. Even now, his family still has not been officially informed of his arrest and detention.
It doesn’t look good…
As these stories of China’s crackdowns continue to reach Western media, the already-tarnished opinion of China’s human rights policies will further worsen, as people are reminded of previous incidents such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the 2008 Tibetan uprising (when over 250 Tibetans were killed by PLA troops), and, more recently, the imprisonment of Nobel laureate Lui Xiaobo. In response to Weiwei’s detainment, the US, Britain and Germany have all urged the Chinese government to release the artist, with Jon Huntsman, the outgoing United States ambassador to China, praising him and his fellow activists for “challeng[ing] the Chinese government to serve the public,” as reported by The New York Times. However, the U.S.’s unconvincing condemnation has fallen on deaf ears, with Chinese spokesman Hong Lei insisting that Weiwei’s detainment “has nothing to do with human rights.” Human Rights Watch’s Nicholas Bequelin has called the international intervention into Chinese rights violations “toothless.”
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
When thinking about the US response, one should consider all aspects of the U.S.-China relationship into account. The two countries' economies are undeniably interdependent and the U.S. would want to keep China as a strategic ally on economic, military and diplomatic levels, especially in the struggle against North Korea’s nuclear threat. Many say that without cooperation and partnership, China might expand to the point when the U.S. is dusting itself off in China’s tracks. For these reasons, the U.S. government has decided not take a strong a stance on human rights issues in China, for fear of a Chinese retaliation. One factor of the relationship is often forgotten–Chinese dependence on America. The U.S. is by far China’s top trading partner, and China’s economy would undoubtedly suffer without economic partnership with the U.S. As Gordon Chang wrote for Forbes, “China’s increasing trade dependence on the United States gives Washington enormous leverage over Beijing… because some large portion of the Chinese surplus… is attributable to violations of [WTO] obligations.” Moreover, the Chinese threat of selling its trillion dollars worth of U.S. bonds would have very detrimental effects on China’s economy, primarily due to a reduction in the value of the Yuan. With the possibility of potent economic threats on China, the U.S. might have more power than it is showing.
No excuses
From ethical and humanitarian perspective, the U.S. can and should take a stronger position on human rights violations in China–contrary to popular belief, the Chinese government might actually concede to the U.S.’s demands if the threat to China is strong enough. The U.S. claims that it stands up for the pursuit of freedom and democracy anywhere and everywhere, yet when it comes to China, the U.S.’s condemnation is feeble. This makes the U.S.’s worldwide promotion of freedom seem little more than an empty promise. China relies on the U.S. just as much as the U.S. relies on China, so it is in China’s best interest to keep the relationship with the U.S. constructive. If the U.S. begins to more strongly punish China for infringing on personal freedoms of expression (such as with threats of economic sanctions), the Chinese government’s actions against dissidents might change for the better.
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