Week 3: Pei, Guthrie, and Hu

It was helpful to read these articles, as I feel much more informed about the resons behind China's current economic and political situation. I especially enjoyed Hu's piece, and his clear breakdown of the various ideological and practical issues facing Deng as his reforms were implemented and decided upon. I have always felt ignorant when it came to Chinese history, and it is the era from 1949 on that I have long wanted to have a better understanding of.

The human rights arguments Hu laid out were interesting, concerning the various trade-offs that governments may consider when working to implement reform and deciding upon what will eb best for the most people, based on these trade-off priorities. Furthermore, I was intrigued when he stated that there were three ruling principles regarding China's view of human rights: 1) Human Rights are within national sovereignty, 2) Human Rights vary by nation-state, and 3) Survival, or Subsistence, is the number one human rights priority in China. As an individual who is very invested in human rights work and ideology, these ideas drew my curiosity, and I look forward to looking later this week and next at the dissidents websites and at the Amnesty International article. It makes sense with Deng's focus on economic reform, as laid out by both Guthrie and Hu, that subsistence would be #1, because it is evident that economic rights seems to tump both social and political rights in China, as a result of the way the political and economic reforms went, and the ensuing potential for chaos and the threats against Communist and Socialist legitimacy which human rights pose.

I found it interesting in Guthrie's article when he noted the differences between China's reputation and its reality, on pages 38 and 39. It is true that I, at least, often thought of China as an authoritarian state with horrendous human rights violations a daily occurence, in part due to excessive corruption. It was helpful to me when Guthrie made clear that this view is skewed and undermines the advances that have been made, in large part because of Deng's economic and liberal reforms. It now seems obvious that China could not be the major player it is today if all of my ignorance had proven truthful in so many ways.

In reading all three articles, I thought it was interesting that such emphasis was placed on the way that increased liberalization and freedom can actually lead to more dissent and demand for greater reform and guarantee of rights. Hu explicitly points this out on page 74, as well as at other points in his article, and it immediately made me think of Pei's article in which he argues that the increased social unrest has come, in part, because of the economic growth and reforms China has experienced. I am interested in considering this idea futher, and discussing it with other members of the class. Whether or not this argument is true, I believe it is always preferable to have increased freedom, human rights, and democracy, however, that may indeed threated security and stability, so what are the costs of granting greater freedoms and rights, and what are the costs of authoritarian control, and what are the benefits of each, at least in regards to sceurity and stability. These are the ultimate questions I came away with, and I may end up trying to find a way to make these ideas the focus of my final report.