Hu Jia: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2008?

Jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia (and maybe also his brave wife Zeng Jinyan who is also under house arrest and who is bringing up their young daughter alone) is/are being tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is very welcome news in light of the Communist Government's blatant failure to uphold human rights as promised around the time of the Beijing Olympics.

Hu was jailed in April apprently for 5 articles he wrote and 2 interviews he gave criticising the Communist Government in China for failing to uphold human rights. How pathetic is that?

Hu has actively campaigned on behalf of AIDS/HIV sufferers and other dissidents such as Chen Guangcheng over a number of years.

There is a moral dimension to this ongoing oppression which ought to give the Chinese Government pause for thought. Governments that lock up people who don't agree with them (we are not talking terrorism here for goodness sake!) tend to have limited shelf-lives, never achieve the moral authority and acceptance in the eyes of the international community that they crave and ultimately implode on themselves when the final vestiges of their legitimacy disappear. It may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow or in 20 years, but one day it shall if they carry on like this.

Hu would be a worthy winner and it would be interesting to see how and if the Communist authorities would react. I think it would be highly embarrassing for them that Hu is currently in prison on a pretty flimsy pretext. Perhaps they ought to think about releasing him PDQ?

The Lights Are On But No One's At Home - DG Trade Get It Wrong

The decision by DG Trade to continue to hold in place a tariff on Chinese energy saving light bulbs is a foolish one.

It seems that only German light bulb company Osram wanted to keep the tariff. I hope that the tariff will be lifted and soon. It makes no sense for the European Commission to keep a tariff in place when they are trying to encourage European consumers to save energy.

It is also bad economics.

I hope that the tariff will be voted down by member states within the month.

The BBC have more information here.

Yahoo! Is Sued For Collaboration in Chinese Human Rights Abuses

I personally welcome the news that Yahoo! is being sued by the World Organisation for Human Rights on behalf of the families of Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao. Report from the Guardian here.

I genuinely hope that their "not our problem" attitude is duly punished. They collaborated by turning over information to the Chinese authorities which they knew would have resulted in the persecution of particular individuals.

I await the results of this suit with interest. Should bring a whole new meaning to Corporate Social Responsibility inside Yahoo!

I hope WOHR wins and Yahoo! are made to pay a stiff price for their moral cowardice.

Yet Another Chinese Communist Human Rights Outrage

Jonathan Watts has reported today that Yuan Weijing was detained at Beijing Airport and her passport revoked when she attempted to travel to the Philippines to collect a human rights award on behalf of her husband, Prisoner of Conscience, Chen Guangcheng. Further information here. The report suggests that her mobile phone was also confiscated.

I'm delighted to see that the British Embassy are on the case and are raising these cases of human rights activist and journalist harassment by local police and turning out to give moral support.

The way this is all going sanctions of some kind are going to have to be applied to get Beijing to sit up and realise that they can't go on treating people like this. Yuan Weijing has committed no crime for which she has been tried and convicted. This is not Rule of Law this is Rule by Law at best and arbitrary detention at worst.

The Great Chinese Human Rights Crackdown Continues

Jonathan Watts of the Guardian appears to have an exclusive tonight. Yuan Weijing, the wife of jailed Chinese dissident and human rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚) (who was imprisoned for exposing illegal enforced late term abortions by local government officials in his hometown of Lingyi, Shangdong) has apparently been placed under house arrest by the Chinese authorities thereby preventing her travelling to the Philippines to collect a human rights award on behalf of her husband.

She hasn't broken any laws and she has all the valid paperwork apparently so there should be some serious pressure on the Chinese Government to allow her to go.

The award is the Ramon Magsayay Award for Emergent Leadership. This link provides more information.

I demand that Yuan Weijing be allowed access to and from China. She has committed no crime and should not be treated as a criminal.

The Crackdown in China Begins

As I predicted when I reviewed the recent article written about China by Ming Campbell (but I suspect mainly ghost written) the widely expected crackdown before the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has begun. Jonathan Watts has again written one of his great articles for the Guardian linked here.

The core of the article is:

"Chinese journalists privately say the current atmosphere is stifling. International civil rights groups say the rules are a new threat to press freedom.

"This crackdown is a legal gun to the head to responsible journalists who want to report on the basis of facts," said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "China has a long track record of using similar campaigns to weed out news that the authorities find objectionable because it exposes social and political problems."

"In recent decades, China has gone through cycles of media opening and repression. Since president Hu came to power five years ago, there have been steps backward - such as the jailings of several prominent journalists - and steps forward, including the easing of restrictions on foreign correspondents at the start of this year.

"But as was the case ahead of the last party congress in 2002, the leadership has reverted to bunker mode". (Sounds familiar).

Hopeful now Ming? I'm not.

There is also a clampdown on NGOs such as those supporting the rights of Chinese citizens with HIV.

The human rights situation in China is going exactly as predicted. There are no grounds for optimism at the moment unless increased pressure is brought to bear from the West.

It is time that the Liberal Democrat leadership stopped trying to appease Beijing and stood up for what we are supposed to believe in. True freedom and human rights for all the world's citizens.

Yes, the way to influence Beijing is through constructive engagement but someone should be putting a flea in the ear of the Chinese Ambassador.

The Liberal Democrat Front Bench needs to show some leadership here. This is what our core supporters expect from us. This is our mission and the Olympics should not deflect us from campaigning internationally on our core values.

I'd normally spend some time looking at the People Daily articles and critiquing them but apart from one allusion to the fact that not everyone is happy about the commissioning of a new nuclear power station near Dalian, Liaoning Province, the press coverage is so deadly dull that you would think China had gone to sleep for August (which it actually doesn't do). The only coverage is postive "spin" on trying to control the air pollution in Beijing. I frankly don't think that they've got a prayer at the moment.

Safety First - Not Covert Protectionism

Sadly it seems that there have been a significant number of safety scandals involving Chinese products. This one has claimed the life of a factory boss in Guangdong Province.

Clearly it is vitally important that consumers are protected from dangerous products. However, there is a fine line between consumer safety and covert protectionism. In China's case, yes, they need to strengthen safety standards but this should not become a cover for some of the protectionist attitudes emerging in the US and parts of the EU. The benefits of free trade have long been shown to outweigh the costs and furthermore, nations that trade work harder to get along harmoniously.

Harming China's businesses (unless, of course, they are involved in wrongdoing) for the sake of it will create a seige mentality which will undermine political liberalisation.

Is the Chinese Communist Party Discovering Democracy? Hmm....

I sometimes have a look at the website of the fantastically objective Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Renmin Ribao (人民日报） to keep an eye on what the wonderful ruling elite are up to.

They seem very pleased with themselves today if this report is anything to go by. Under the banner CPC promotes democracy by open elections the CPC are preening themselves.

Lots of elections it seems and maybe they are starting to discover the merits of OMOV. They've even been letting non-Party members "have a say", whatever that means (not much). However, in case we got the strange idea that China was some kind of utopia the report mentions the following:

"With China's rapid economic development, the Party is facing problems such as corruption, low efficiency and bureaucracy, prompting measure for improvement."

The killer quote for me is:

"Experts point out that developing democracy within the Party is an important part of political restructuring and building of political civilization in China".

This expert suggests that perhaps, Comrades, you should try democracy in China, full stop. Allow properly contested elections with proper independent alternatives to the CPC. Then, at least you might find that corruption is a more manageable affair and you might even get back some of the credibility you so desperately crave.

Technocracy is not Democracy - A Response to Cui Shixin

Cui Shixin is a senior editor of Remin Ribao (The People Daily in English), the main mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (equivalent to "Pravda" in Chinese terms). Cui has made a bit of a song and dance about the appointment of Chen Zhu, as Minister of Health. Chen apparently has no party affiliation and is the second Minister "elected" this year who is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

The previous appointment was Wan Gang who was appointed Minister of Science and Technology. Wan is a member of the China Party for Public Interest (Zhongguo Zhi Gong Dang) and was the first non-Communist Minister since the 1970s. One of the "8 Concubines" the non-Communist Parties of China are about as effective a political opposition as the non-Communist Parties were in the former East Germany. The last time any of the so-called "democratic" parties considered setting up as a political opposition to the Communists was in the mid-90s and then, they did not follow through.

Cui seems to be suggesting in the typically round about way that Chinese Communists tend to discuss political issues that this somehow shows the Chinese Communist Party's commitment to the development of "socialist democratic" politics. Hmm....

Apart from "socialist democratic" politics being an oxymoron, the reality is that China is at best in transition from authoritarianism towards some form of technocracy. Clearly the Chinese Communist Party has had a dismal record in it's handling of a number of major health issues. It's performance around SARS was pathetic whilst I lived in China and resulted in travel in much of China being effectively shut down for a few months. Their handling of bird 'flu wasn't much better. China has failed to inspire confidence in the way it has continually sought to cover up what happens. The factors leading to this are two fold. They are the "Tiangao, huangdi yuan" syndrome, where local government officials deliberately keep national government officials in the dark for reasons of personal power and a desire to avoid interference from Beijing. The second relates to the nature of the Communist Party itself and it's "knowledge is power" paradigm. The Communist Party would often like to pretend that China is perfect sometimes and this means a desire not to lose face on the international stage. Having said that, I suspect that sometimes Beijing has less idea what is going on on the ground than the international media at times.

Quite frankly, in the light of the Chinese Communist Party's dismal health record it was essential for social stability that they turned to a non-Communist to try to rebuild trust amongst the international community.

However, Cui Xiansheng, let us be clear, technocratic appointments are still no substitute for genuine democracy. Please try not to insult the intelligence of the international community by pretending otherwise.

Starbucks and the Forbidden City - Lessons for Liberal Internationalists

I am not completely surprised to hear that finally, after a significant amount of pressure, Starbucks has finally been effectively asked to leave the Forbidden City (Gugong) in Beijing. However before we all cheer at an major American multinational has being humbled there are some quite important underlying lessons which need to be borne in mind from this episode.

Firstly, official Chinese sanction must have been given to Rui Chenggang to wage his campaign against Starbucks. Rui is a high profile media personality in China and you don't usually get into such a position unless you are seen as "safe" by the Chinese Communist Party (typically meaning membership cards for high profile positions only). Rui criticised the Starbucks cafe on the grounds that it "trampled on Chinese Culture".

Such statements show quite clearly that the Chinese have not really moved forward from nationalism, and particularly economic nationalism, at all. This should be somewhat worrying preceding the Olympic Games. Far from opening up the country, the Games appear to be stoking nationalist sentiment. There is also little evidence of any positive moves on human rights either. Quite the opposite.

The second lesson to be learned is that official discourse in China is still far from embracing any genuine form of liberal approach to international relations. This should cause concern to those who hope for a democratic big bang. Instead, the likelihood is that any "democratic" government in China would attempt to outdo it's rivals on who would best stand up for China on the world stage in the event of a Communist collapse. It would even be likely if the Communist Party split into two competing factions contesting elections as one Chinese commentator has suggested as an approach to rooting out inherent corruption in the Communist Party power structures.

Liberal democracy in mainland China seems, regrettably, a long way off as this episode demonstrates.

Free Chen Guangcheng

Regular readers of my old blog Liberal Legend (Mark 1) will recall that I highlighted the case of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng who was jailed for leading protests against forced abortion and sterilisation in Shandong Province, China.

Sadly it appears that, much as expected, Chen has suffered beatings in prison at the hands of fellow prisoners according to a BBC report for daring to try to appeal against his conviction on trumped up charges.

Amnesty International has declared Chen Guangcheng a prisoner of conscience. The Chinese authorities should free him as he is yet another example of corrupt local officialdom abusing the human rights of fellow citizens.

It is long overdue for the Chinese Government to realise that for as long as local officials do not have to face competition for their posts through genuinely open and competitive election by their fellow citizens they will abuse their powers. The time for the Fifth Modernisation is long overdue.

64 - The number the Chinese Communist Party wants everyone to forget

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA170332007?open&of=ENG-CHN

The above is an excellent assessment of the situation in China related to the tragic events of 4th June (6 4) 1989 and the subsequent repression of information about the Tiananmen Incident which continues to the present day in China.

A significant number of young people in China today do not know what happened on that date. It is up to all of those of us who remember those tragic events to continue to bear testimony and assist the education of China's young people.

Help Free Two Chinese Prisoners of Conscience

Amnesty International is currently supporting two prisoners of conscience, Ye Guozhu and Mao Hengfeng.

More information on how you can help the fight for human rights in China here.

Slavery in China - How Could It Happen? Oh Too Easily.

Jonathan Watts, the Guardian's China Correspondent has, amongst others, brought to the attention of the British public one of the most shocking episodes to emerge out of China for several years.

Shocking though this episode is, it would not come as too much of a surprise to experienced China analysts. There is an ancient Chinese saying "Tian gao, huangdi yuan" which translates as "the sky is high and the emperor is far away". In modern parlance this literally means that local authorities can do as they like since the Central authorities are not keeping a close eye on them. For over a decade now the Central Chinese Government has had significant problems keeping an eye on government officials in townships and villages, some of whom have been notorious for running their patches as personal fiefdoms and creating ever more ingenious ways of overtaxing the local population. Some of these officials, due to a lack of democratic accountability and a corrupt relationship with both police officials and local businessmen have found the temptation to take kickbacks, fail to enforce environmental regulations and labour legislation (which are actually pretty poor in China anyway) and turn a blind eye to appalling practices in mines, brick kilns, construction sites and factories just too hard to resist. After all, Deng Xiaoping said "to get rich is glorious". They control the power so why shouldn't they see some of the benefits?

When combined with the general attitudes of city dwellers towards their fellow citizens from the countryside which frankly verges on total contempt ("nongmin"=farmer/peasant is a term of abuse in China amongst city dwellers) and you have the background conditions for what has gone on in Shanxi and Henan.

The Communist Government is now reaping what they have sown. They have tried to have their cake and eat it. They have wanted the economic development that capitalism brings but they have failed to create the institutions which are necessary to underpin it which includes political pluralism. They have set their face against the roadmap to a liberal democracy which was followed in Taiwan. By doing so they are going to unearth even more examples of this sorry episode.

The only tragedy is that the Chinese people will probably be unable to see this episode for what it is. Proof that a one-party state fails to protect the interests of the vulnerable and the poor. China is no longer Communist but the regime, through the kind of society it has created, is showing an increasingly unpleasant resemblance to Pinochet's Chile. The only positive out of this whole sorry episode is that at least the Central authorities allowed the media to show what had happened. The problem is that the glaringly obvious political lesson will not be learned.

China really does need to start liberalising and then move towards a multiparty state where competition for power will reduce the incentives for local government officials and police officers to take bribes and abuse the human rights of their fellow citizens. The Communist Government has to realise that it is incapable of supervising itself. Supervision has to come from the Chinese people themselves.