China: A Recurring Theme

China is one of the biggest threats to peace and stability in the world. Not only does the government suppress dissent at home, it also bankrolls violent dictatorships in Asia and Africa. But let’s start on the domestic front. Amnesty International reports increased attempts to silence opposition and minority groups, including the abduction and disappearance of human rights activists in Beijing in the run-up to the summer Olympics. Protests by monks in Tibet have reached a point where the Chinese government was forced to acknowledge them, though information remains controlled, and thus sparse. China even closed Mt. Everest to climbers in an attempt to keep Tibetan protestors away from the Olympic torch run. God forbid the human rights activists infringe on the symbol of the “lasting unity of mankind.”

Strict censorship of the media and public access to information—enabled by American technology companies including Cisco, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft—allows the Chinese government to keep much of its population in dark about its insidious activities. This Frontline report on Tiananmen Square provides excellent insight into the Chinese government’s human rights abuses and the monitoring and censorship of its own population.

China’s record on international human rights is equally, if not more, deplorable. China is the largest arms-supplier and oil-investor of the genocidal regime in Sudan. From 2003-2006, as other nations were withdrawing from trade with Sudan, China supplied 90% of Sudan’s arms purchases. (Check out the Save Darfur Coalition’s chilling ad campaign. The link will open a PDF.) China dispatched a special envoy to Sudan in the wake of mounting international pressure related to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but these attempts often seem feeble and two-faced. On the one hand, the special envoy comments about the deplorable humanitarian crisis and the need for increased peace efforts, while on the other hand defending China’s human rights record and commenting that politics have no place in the Olympics, mocking the efforts international human rights activists. (For more information: http://savedarfur.org/page/content/china)

China also funds violent authoritarian regimes in Sri Lanka and Burma. The government of Sri Lanka, engaged in a protracted 25-year civil war against the Tamil ethnic minority, is protected from international criticism and sanction by virtue of substantial Chinese financial support. Commenting on the replacement of Western donors, Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona argues, “Asians don’t go around teaching each other how to behave. There are ways we deal with each other — perhaps a quiet chat, but not wagging the finger.” Read: We’ll take money from people who don’t tell us to stop abducting, torturing, and killing our own citizens. Charming.

(The methods of the Tamil Tigers themselves are by no means commendable, and Sri Lankan citizens are often caught in the middle of fighting between the rebel group and the government. HRW recently released a report, “Recurring Nightmare,” on the abductions of members of the Tamil ethnic group by the Sri Lankan military. For more information on the crisis in Sri Lanka, visit the Genocide Intervention Network.)

International boycotts and sanctions on military dictatorship in Burma are similarly thwarted by China’s economic support, especially in the gem trade. (First Lady Laura Bush is a staunch advocate of a boycott on Burmese gems, but as my friend commented, “I didn’t even know she was involved in this. She really needs better PR people.”) Major jewelers including Tiffany’s and Cartier joined the boycott, but their efforts seem futile without China’s support. China also supplies the Burmese government with arms and other investments: "The only sanctions that would work would be Chinese," asserts Robert Rotberg, a professor of public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School. "The Chinese ... supply all the weapons and much of the investment [to Burma]." [Christian Science Monitor]

Much more can be said on the issue, but the gist is this: China not only invests heavily in countries with horrendous human rights records, but also supplies arms and other material support to the authoritarian regimes that violently oppress their own citizens. China defends its human rights record by arguing that it engages in economic activity only and does not meddle in the internal affairs of other nations—and criticizes the US and other nations for meddling in China’s internal affairs—essentially arguing for a free-enterprise approach to international affairs (very curious of a supposedly-Communist country) that ignores the connection between economics and politics.

Apologies, dear commies, but economics and politics cannot be separated. They are bedfellows. Perhaps you should re-familiarize yourself with your own founding Manifesto, because I do believe that the connection between economics and politics was an underlying theme of the Communist Revolution.

A Final Note: US State Department, though still labeling the government as authoritarian, dropped China from its list of the world’s worst human rights violators. Curious.