Dec
27
Communist Chinese Authoritarianism at its Paranoid Worst.
Filed Under China, Personal Freedom | Leave a Comment
I recently watched the film “The Lives of Others.” The German language film (with sub-titles) shows life in the mid-1980s in the German Democractic Republic (GDR, or as it was commonly known, East Germany), an authoritarian communist regime that fell almost twenty years ago, along with the Berlin Wall. The film features the Stasi, the GDR’s secret police force. It was a time and a place where the slightest criticism of the regime, the merest hint of disloyalty, might earn you a visit from Stasi thugs, a round of interrogation and torture and maybe some time in prison or a psychiatric hospital. It was a time and a place where a lunatic fringe of paranoid bullies ruled a nation.
The GDR may be gone, but we still have the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
From the Associated Press on Christmas day:
Authorities in Tibet have detained 59 people accused of disseminating rumors aimed at inciting ethnic tension and have cracked down on illegal downloads of “reactionary music” online, Chinese state media reported Thursday.Law enforcement officers have found 48 cases of “rumor spreading” since March, when anti-government riots rocked the Tibetan capital Lhasa, a report by the China Tibet News said, citing a local public security official.
Xin Yuanming, deputy chief of the Lhasa public security bureau, said those being investigated were instigated by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, according to the report. It did not name those detained nor give other details.
The rumors posed a threat to public security by fanning ethnic hatred and damaging the image of China’s ruling Communist Party, the report said.
Arrested for spreading rumors that might damge the image of the communist regime…the old GDR and its Stasi would be proud.
Dec
19
Is The U.S. Postal Service Practicing Beijing Appeasment?
Filed Under China, Taiwan, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
So has the United States Postal Service decided that Taiwan is just another captive province in Communist China’s empire? And if so, does this mean the post office is now setting U.S. foreign policy?
On his Taiwan focused blog, The View From Taiwan, Michael Turton has a great post (pics included) on the United States Postal Service’s apparent practice of stamping packages addressed to Taiwan with “Taiwan, Province of China.”
Turton’s post includes lots of details, possible conclusions and good questions regarding this practice, so check it out. Turton concludes:
Let me add this simple fact: the policy of the US government is, and has been for the last five decades, that the status of Taiwan is undetermined. As a government entity, USPS should not be flouting official policy.
Dec
11
Che and Mao, Icons for the Clueless
Filed Under China, Personal Freedom | Leave a Comment
A really good piece of video work from reason.tv, “Killer Chic: Hollywood’s Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara.”
So what does the thuggish, and sadly iconic, Guevara have to do with Mao, Communist China’s ex-dictator? From the description accompanying the video:
“We’re rightly horrified by fascist murderers like Adolph Hitler,” says reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie. “Why aren’t we also horrified by communist killers?” Certainly, Che’s body count isn’t anywhere near Hitler’s. But what about someone Che idolized, someone whom he might have liked to wear on his chest?
“Che, Castro, all the communist regimes idolized only one thing that Mao personifies—violence.” Kai Chen grew up in China under the reign of Mao Zedong. Although he won gold medals for China’s national basketball team, Chen’s was far from the celebrity life of an NBA star. Says Chen, “You have no right to talk, and you have no right to think.”
The punishment for questioning Mao’s authority was often death. The Black Book of Communism estimates that Mao is responsible for the deaths of 65 million people—a figure that dwarfs even Hitler’s body count. “Mao is a murderer,” says Chen. “The biggest mass murderer in human history.”
And yet, like Che, Mao’s image is becoming an increasingly popular way to move merchandise. You can buy Mao t-shirts, mugs, caps-you name it.
Really, why don’t the lear jet liberals reason.tv shows celebrating Che have similar contempt for communist mass-murderers as for fascist mass-murderers?
Dec
8
As it turns out, the regime in Beijing is not only one of the world’s great human rights violators, but also a bunch of cry-babies. As it also turns out, France’s junior human rights minister is not just a terrifically good looking woman, but also one tough cookie, having recently given Beijing a well deserved slap-down.
It’s like this. French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently met with the Dalai Lama in Poland and Beijing threw a predictable temper tantrum. But rather than trying to then appease the really easily annoyed regime in Beijing, French human rights minister Rama Yade told the regime to chill out.
From the December 8 EU Business news:
France appealed for calm Sunday after China strongly protested President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, with the human rights minister saying there was no need for “psycho-drama.”
China reacted angrily to Sarkozy’s meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader on Saturday, saying it had seriously undermined Bejing’s relations with France and Europe.
“There is no need for psycho-drama,” human rights minister Rama Yade said in an interview to French LCI television.
“The Dalai Lama is not a dangerous man. He is a man of peace, of non-violence, who has been awarded the Nobel prize for peace.”
Yade stressed that China and France must pool their efforts to tackle the global financial crisis instead of feuding over Tibet.
“We need to cooperate, calmly,” she said.
Nicely done, though this still does not entirely excuse President Sarkozy’s blatant pandering to Beijing by refusing to meet with the Dalai Lama during a visit to France earlier this year.
Dec
6
More Chinese Influence in Africa
Filed Under Africa, China, Darfur, Genocide, Mugabe, Zimbabwe | 2 Comments
Much of the African Continent is mired in conflict and ruled by thuggish regimes…exactly the kind of conditions Beijing prefers for expanding its influence. And Indeed, whether it is arming the murderous regime of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, or enabling the genocidal regime in Khartoum, the regime in Beijing seems drawn to African misery like moths to a flame.
From Richard Gustafson at the University of Denver, here is an academic analysis of “China’s Growing Influence on the African Continent.” From the abstract:
Because of their colonial histories, African nations tend to be splintered, and conflicts on the continent are frequently internal. Following the Tienanmen Square incident in 1989 and the end of Cold War, the West’s financial support to Cold War allies diminished at the same time China shifted the focus of its foreign policy toward Africa. It offered aid and low interest loans with few or no conditions regarding governance or human rights. The continuous power struggles and efforts to maintain power make China’s overtures tempting to many African leaders. Many of China’s interactions come at the expense of the citizens of African nations and create a long-term detriment to economies on the African continent.
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