`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
Reprinted with Permission
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Eric Margolis
Syndicated Columnist/Foreign Affairs Analyst
The Toronto Sun
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