I had so much to say about Amir’s post, that I stopped writing a comment, and decided to do a post instead. Politics happens to be one of several subjects that are extremely touchy, like religion, so I hope I don’t offend anyone, first of all. Anyway, I think I have a pretty weird/unique standpoint, because although I was born in China and I do talk with my parents about Chinese culture and politics, I also left China at a very early age, and my environment has made me quite Western in terms of philosophy and way of life. So, I have these two viewpoints that both influence me.
The main thing I want to say is that I think Amir’s post (and most of the Western world) antagonizes China too much, and that they are not unbiased like they may think. (Just wanted to make it clear that I’m not saying that I agree with what the Chinese government is doing, especially in terms of the human rights violations.) Ok, here goes:
On Communism and Propaganda:
After I read Amir’s post, I immediately told my dad about it, and had a discussion with him. What he said boils down to: China needs communism. In a big country like China, both in terms of land mass and population, competing political parties would get nothing done. And that is unacceptable. Thus, China needs one strong leader with one strong party, and communism just happens to be that. And propaganda – it’s necessary for the government to function, so it remains. It’s about power and stability.
To outsiders looking in, this way of living, this lack of democracy, is horrible. But to people living in China (though there is a distinction between city and country folk), it’s not all bad. They like having a leader who knows what to do, and follows through with it – someone who is in control of things. I do think they would rather have this stability than a democracy that gets nothing done.
On Darfur:
It’s horrible, the civil war in Darfur. Nothing with people dying unnecessarily is good. Again, not trying to defend China’s actions, but then again, if the U.S. can benefit from invading the Middle East with oil, why not China from Darfur? Ok, not necessarily a good thing, but at least China is buying the oil, not seizing it. Again, China’s not the only one doing the bad things. If the U.S. is so good (which is the vibe I seem to be getting from Amir’s post), how can you be such a hypocrite, ignoring the things the U.S. has done and is doing, and attack China’s actions?
On Falun Gong and Tibet:
I do believe Falun Gong the practice itself is beneficial to the body (like Tai Chi, for example), and has helped people, and I don’t agree with the torture that the Chinese government uses on people who practice Falun Gong, but I think the West simplifies the issue too much. The West focuses on the ill-treatment of these people - what human rights violations China has committed - while it has not examined the other side of the issue, namely why the Chinese government hates Falun Gong so much. Because the conflict is definitely not unprovoked; the conflict is in fact very much political.
The Chinese government, in the beginning, supported and gave grants to Li Hongzhi (creator of the practice). Then, in 1999 – after seven years of the practice being taught and spread – the Chinese government banned it. You have to ask yourself why the Chinese government would suddenly start banning it without provocation, after promoting it for seven years. The Chinese government said that it banned the practice because “Falun Gong was a highly organised political group ‘opposed to the Communist Party of China and the central government, preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition’. It attempted to make the distinction between ‘ordinary core members’ and the leaders, which it referred to as ‘a small number of behind-the-scenes plotters and organizers who harbor political intentions’.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_gong ) Li Hongzhi, of course, replied that Falun Gong was not a political organization, and that it had no wish to overthrow the Communist government. After that, nationwide persecution began. It’s all politics. China didn’t start persecuting for no reason; it started it because it believed there was a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Not sure if this conspiracy is real or not, but just trying to say that all this persecution and torture started for a reason - the fear of rebellion – and to the Chinese government that is reason enough. So, Amir said, “In fact, you mention the Falun Gong, and you are pressured, prisonned, and in the case of international lobbying, bullied into ignorance and compliance.” I say: of course, to the Chinese government, this is what it takes to stop a rebellion against it.
Same thing with Tibet – it’s all politics. I know lot of people hate China because of China’s treatment of Tibet, but China is just trying to do what all countries want – to keep its territory. So of course China won’t let Tibet be independent; it is a self-governing province though, like Shanghai is a self-governing municipality. And of course China doesn’t want other countries to interfere with its internal affairs.
Same with Taiwan, too; it’s all politics. China wants to keep the land, and doesn’t want other countries poking their noses into what China thinks is its own business, and therefore no one else’s business. All of this stuff, it’s nasty politics.
On the U.S. vs. China thing:
Amir said, “But its an indication of the mentality of the nation. Its closed mindedness, similar to Soviet Russia, will be its downfall. For it is the economic philosophy of the U.S. that will keep it strong for years to come. It is its transparencies that allow dark regiems to rise, but it is also this transparency that allows the system to correct itself.”
By economic philosophy, what do you mean? Capitalism? The thing is, the U.S. isn’t doing that well right now. I mean, I do think things might change with a Democrat president, if that is the outcome, but the U.S. economy is doing so much worse than China, and the country remains billions of dollars in debt, if not more. So I ask, what is it that is keeping the U.S. strong, as you say? Right now, what I’m seeing is China getting more and more power, and then there’s the U.S. both trying to stop China from getting power, and trying to get on China’s good side so it can benefit from China’s wealth at the same time. (Don’t know how well that works.) China, on the other hand, seems to be doing quite well. Of course, no country can do well forever, like the U.S. has shown us, but this is the situation right now – China is getting more power, and the U.S. seems to be losing its grip on the position of number one.
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Ultimately, life is not fair. Politics, especially, is dirty. Everyone wants power and money; some people say that there is inherent good in human nature, but there is inherent greed and selfishness too.
I guess I do agree with Amir on the one thing, about superpowers – yes, that is what they do. They abuse their power. But just trying to say, China is not the first country to do this. And it will not be the last.
