By 1 June 1989, tens of thousands of protesters had gathered in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to call for an end to political oppression. In the statue 'Goddess of Democracy,' a monument created by several creative art students out of papier mache and foam, the aspirations of hundreds of millions of Chinese were symbolized. Two nights later, the government ordered the military to clear the square by force. From 3-5 June, thousands of the unarmed Tiananmen protesters were arrested, shot and wounded or killed in the streets. For the last twenty-two years, the massacre that occurred over that forty-eight hour period has not only been omitted from Chinese history books (it is mendaciously dubbed 'The 4 June Incident') but it has also been expediently shelved by the US government and other democracies around the world in pursuit of 'larger' foreign policy objectives and corporate profits..
In the years after Tiananmen, policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic repeatedly claimed that turning China into a free market economy would usher in democratic reforms. In short, this has not happened. Today's capitalist China, which still officially clings to a communist ideology, is no closer to democracy than two decades ago. In fact, the government of China has become more despotic since Tiananmen and is now one of the most tyrannical regimes in the world.
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Last month (8 April 2011), the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US Department of State released an exhaustive report on China. This report is a compilation of information gathered from news outlets, NGOs focused on human rights and other verifiable, corroborative sources. The following paragraphs contain directly quoted passages from the report. While reading these facts, please consider one simple question, 'Should the West (including Japan and South Korea) continue to overlook the character of the regime in Beijing for larger economic and geopolitical considerations?'
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Selections from 'US State Department 2010 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: China'
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"A negative trend in key areas of the country's human rights record continued, as the government took additional steps to rein in civil society, particularly organizations and individuals involved in rights advocacy and public interest issues, and increased attempts to limit freedom of speech and to control the press, the Internet and Internet access. Efforts to silence political activists were stepped up, and increasingly the government resorted to extralegal measures including enforced disappearance, 'soft detention,' and strict house arrest, including house arrest of family members, to prevent the public of independent opinions. Public interest law firms that took on sensitive cases also continued to face harassment, disbarment of legal staff and closure."
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"During the year, security forces reportedly committed arbitrary or unlawful killings."
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"According to official media reports, 197 persons died and 1,700 were injured during the July 2009 rioting in Urumqi (northwest China). In November 2009, eight ethnic Uighurs and one ethnic Han were executed without due process for crimes committed during the riots."
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"In an October 2009 report, the NGO Human Rights Watch documented the disappearances of hundreds of Uighurmen and boys following the July 2009 protest in Urumqui."
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"According to a July 7 NGO report, democracy activist Xu Wanping, who founded the China Action Party after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre and was serving a 12-year sentence for 'inciting subversion of state power' was repeatedly subjected to solitary confinement in Yuzhou Prison, Jiangbei District, Chongquing. The longest period of such confinement reportedly lasted 11 months. Xu's mental and physical health have deteriorated, and he reportedly has not received adequate medical attention while incarcerated. Xu has been denied release on medical parole."
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"Government officials continued to deny holding any political prisoners...Tens of thousands of political prisoners remain incarcerated."
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"During the year, the government increased censorship and manipulation of the press and the Internet during sensitive anniversaries." (i.e. Tiananmen)
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"A 2005 state council regulation deemed personal blogs, computer bulletin boards, and cellphone text messages as part of the news media, which subjected these media to state restrictions on content. Internet service providers were instructed to use only domestic media-news postings, to record information useful for tracking users and their viewing habits, to install software capable of copying e-mails, and to end immediately transmission of 'subversive material'."
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"The government continued restrictions on academic and artistic freedom and political and social discourse at colleges, universities and research institutes. Instructors were told not to raise certain sensitive topics in class, such as the 1989 Tiananmen massacre."
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Toward A New Foreign Policy On China
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That was but a small portion of the State Department report. If read in its entirety (a copy of the report has been included in the link below), it further documents other abuses carried out the by Chinese government including torture, forced labor in prisons, arbitrary arrests, expansive police powers, 'arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence' and censorship.
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Aside from its rapacious rule at home, Beijing also supports a number of dictatorships around the world. In 2007, China used its vote in the United Nations Security Council to defeat an attempt to impose sanctions on Sudan for conducting genocide in Darfur. Why? Sudan is a significant provider of oil to the rapidly growing Chinese economy. That action should not have been surprising to anyone. If Beijing has no compunction about murdering its own people, why would it place African lives over a barrel of oil?
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In a recent speech, President Obama praised the recent economic growth of Brazil, China and India as millions of destitute people in these countries have been lifted out of poverty. His statement was only partially correct. First, China has become a nation of two classes in recent years - the rich and the poor. In recent articles (including one in The Telegraph (UK), the disparity of wealth is at its highest level in thirty-one years - even the government has publicly stated its concern about its potential effect on 'stability.' Hence, the wealth earned by Chinese businesses largely winds up in the hands of the monied elites and the government. Secondly, China, unlike Brazil and India, is very nearly if not in fact a fascist state. Any material gains made by the people of China have come at the price of individual freedom.
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The West must restructure its foreign policy toward China. Rather than continuing to depend on China as a cheap manufacturing base and purchaser of US debt, it is time to divest from China and relocate industries to developing nations that are democratic, respect the rule of law and uphold the standards of the international community. Are not India, Brazil and several emerging African countries far more deserving of Western capital? Western divestment led to the end of South Africa's brutally racist apartheid government, and it can lead to an end of the post-Tiananmen police state in China.
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By looking the other way, ignoring the violent nature of the regime in Beijing and legitimizing the Chinese government through trade, we are betraying both the Chinese people and everything we stand for as people dedicated to a world where 'right makes might' rather than vice versa. In remembering the Tiananmen massacre of 3-5 June 1989, we are not simply recalling a past crime. We are also considering the present reality of China today - a reality fraught with repression and violence.
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History has many lessons, and one of those lessons is quite clear. Those who collaborate with tyranny - ultimately come to ruin.
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J Roquen
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Photo: A Tibetan Monk being harassed by Chinese security forces. China invaded Tibet in 1950, and it remains under the military control of China today.
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To read the Department of State Human Rights Report on China, please click onto the following link: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/eap/154382.htm
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To watch the compiled footage of the Tiananmen massacre by a CBS reporter on 4 June 1989, please click onto the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAjxssiUa_