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No benevolent Chinese dictatorship
By Cao Changqing 曹長青
Friday, May 28, 2010, Page 8
In 2008, President and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed the hope that the KMT’s Youth Corps could
“produce a [Chinese President] Hu Jintao” (胡錦濤). A classic remark, indeed, in
view of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) bloody history and the fact that it
still has more than 1,000 missiles targeting Taiwan. Ma’s hopes that the KMT can
produce a communist-style leader reveals a complete ignorance of what “evil”
means.
He is not alone. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen
(蔡英文) recently praised Hu as being “rational” and “kind.” It is worrying that
Taiwan’s two main political leaders hold such romantic views of Chinese
communist rule.
Dictators are neither kind nor reasonable because a dictatorship is synonymous
with violent rule. Hu had blood on his hands even before he became president.
Just before the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, a protest broke out in Lhasa,
and reports said hundreds of Tibetans may have been killed in the military
crackdown. At the time, Hu was CCP party secretary in the Tibet Autonomous
Region.
After he became president, the human rights situation in China has become even
worse than under his predecessor, Jiang Zemin (江澤民). The persecution of Falun
Gong practitioners, Christians and dissidents has intensified, as has the
suppression of Tibetans and Uighurs. The CCP has also tightened its control over
information and freedom of thought.
Nor has Hu displayed reason or kindness in the wake of the recent sinking of the
South Korean warship Cheonan.
On May 20, an investigation team consisting of Swedish, British, Australian,
Canadian and US experts released a report saying there was overwhelming evidence
a North Korean submarine sank the ship on March 26, killing 46 South Korean
sailors.
The international community condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s regime.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it an invasion, Japanese Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama called it an unforgivable act, British Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague said North Korea lacked
respect for human life and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accused it of
publicly violating the UN Charter and the armistice agreement between the two
Koreas. Even the normally wishy-washy UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called
the investigation findings “very disturbing.”
The Chinese government, however, has gone against international opinion. At the
latest meeting between foreign ministers from China, Japan and South Korea, the
Chinese minister said investigations should be “scientific and objective.” He
did not condemn North Korea, and his tone implied that Beijing is preparing to
challenge the investigation in favor of North Korea.
After the sinking of the Cheonan, Kim rushed off to Beijing, clearly to discuss
with Hu how to handle the incident. Perhaps Hu encouraged Kim and offered
Beijing’s support.
Clinton visited Beijing this week before heading to South Korea, possibly to
persuade Hu not to favor Pyongyang since South Korea is preparing to seek
redress through the UN Security Council.
When the report by the foreign team of experts came out, South Korea’s foreign
ministry invited the ambassadors from China, Japan, Russia, the UK, France and
about 30 other countries to attend the announcement of the results. Chinese
Ambassador to Seoul Zhang Xinsen (張鑫森) declined the invitation. South Korean
analysts believed Zhang was acting alone, while instead he represented the
position of the Chinese. This could mean that Beijing might use its veto power
in the Security Council to block sanctions against North Korea.
The only reason this evil little North Korean dares behave in this outrageous
manner is because he has the backing of the big Chinese dictatorship. Hu has
said in public that “China must learn from Cuba and North Korea,” as if China
isn’t evil enough. Kim and Hu have once again proved that dictators are
unreasonable. For democratic Taiwan to nurture illusions about a dictator is
very dangerous.
Cao Changqing is a freelance writer based in the US.
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