Week 5: Kurlantzick

"Indeed, Beijing seems to want it both ways: to appear to be more tolerant
even while relentlessly suppressing dissent." (3)

Truly this is the case, especially as China prepares in earnest for the summer Olympic Games. The two-pronged strategy Kurlantzick describes, as well as China's two-faced approach to the world - an internal face and an external one - seem to be all too effective at getting the Chinese government what it wants: more global economic markets and less attention paid to its domestic problems.

I am in a unique position, because all too often I realize how much more I am made aware of by being president of Amnesty at Ithaca College, which opens my eyes up to the human rights abuses perpetrated by China and other countries around the world, to an extent that I would never be privy to otherwise. Certainly I am glad of this in some ways, but when I read articles like Kurlantzick's I am sadly familiar with the subject matter, so much so that I am rarely surprised but often saddened.

What I could really appreciate in Kurlantzick's article was his elaboration of the methods pursued by the government as a means of quelling dissent, especially in regard to the priority of economy over people. In regard to the Internet, for example, he writes, "Beijing not only allows its citizens to view financial reports, stock quotes, and other business-related material on the Internet, but has adopted policies designed to help Internet companies survive." (5) Yet personal Internet use faces massive crack-downs, and a number of prominent dissident bloggers have been arrested, including a recent case that made the front page of the New York Times (more press than many of China's human rights abuses recieve). What I am most struck by is how, in my opinion, this hierarchy of priorities seems contrary to socialist ideology. When a country that touted Communism as the best ideology for the people becomes engrossed in repressing its people for the sake of economic growth and capital flows, something is utterly wrong. Even as China attempts to crush religious movements and social organizations for being in contradiction to the ideology of the state, the government does everything in its power to ensure economic growth and a competitve edge, working to showcase its riches and material success to the rest of the, predominantly capitalist, world.

I can only hope that the numerous dissidents voices grow louder, and that human rights groups, perhaps especially as we come upon the Olymics, put greater pressure on the Chinese goverment, as well as on governements and multinational corportations who do business with China. As Kurlantzick states, there are some Chinese civilians who are not about to give up any of the freedoms they fought for or gained in the early 1990s, and more groups are becoming confrontational or are seeking support outside of China to stand in solidarity with their various causes. From Falun Dafa to the Free Tibet movement, there are media sources and activist networks all over the world that people outside of China are joining, raising their own voices with those of the dissidents. It will be interesting to see how China deals with growing concern over their human rights record in the coming months, even as they crack down on dissenters and activists within their borders, and bulldoze housing projects and build on rural lands, potentially provoking even greater unrest.