in the news vol. III: dying for progress
The biggest mistake that Zhao Ziyang ever made was suggesting that the Chinese communist government should actually listen to the hundreds of thousands of protestors that were occupying Tiananmen Square in May of 1989. This bold move precipitated his removal from the government (he was Party Chief), and he remained under house arrest for the next 15 and a half years until his death earlier this week.
News reports this week have credited Zhao with being largely responsible for the economic transformation of China over the last 20 years. The New York Times, while commending him for introducing a capitalist economic model to China, published an otherwise fluffy editorial piece. My own country's Globe and Mail recounted his political accomplishments, while meekly suggesting that our Prime Minister remind the current Chinese leaders of Zhao's contributions. Meanwhile, the "People's Daily" in China published a small paragraph about his death, while state radio decided that his passing was not worth mentioning.
Maybe I expect too much. At the same time that Zhao is being buried, Canada's government has an entourage, that includes Prime Minister Paul Martin, in Beijing to discuss trade. Would it be too much for Martin to publicly offer condolences to Zhao’s family? One could only imagine how the paranoid Chinese officials would respond-how many millions of dollars in trade (consisting mostly of useless trinkets costing less than $20 that we import) would be lost. Certainly we would get the cold shoulder from our cousins in the States and elsewhere. Also today, I read in The Independent that Britain’s foreign minister (who also happens to be in Beijing) plans to push the EU remove sanctions that bar the sale of arms to China; sanctions put in place directly in response to the Tiananmen massacres.
I suppose this whole episode is a reminder of not only how a communist government acts when confronted with a skeleton from its closet, but how governments in the West seem to be increasingly afraid to confront China, given its newly appointed status as an ‘emerging superpower’. China is in the news a lot these days, though mostly for reasons economic in nature; it wasn’t so long ago that human rights dominated news from China. But with China’s economy growing so rapidly (thanks in large part to Zhao), and dozens of Western governments lining up to help fuel its growth, it seems likely that conditions in China will continue to be reported in terms of GDP for the foreseeable future.
News reports this week have credited Zhao with being largely responsible for the economic transformation of China over the last 20 years. The New York Times, while commending him for introducing a capitalist economic model to China, published an otherwise fluffy editorial piece. My own country's Globe and Mail recounted his political accomplishments, while meekly suggesting that our Prime Minister remind the current Chinese leaders of Zhao's contributions. Meanwhile, the "People's Daily" in China published a small paragraph about his death, while state radio decided that his passing was not worth mentioning.
Maybe I expect too much. At the same time that Zhao is being buried, Canada's government has an entourage, that includes Prime Minister Paul Martin, in Beijing to discuss trade. Would it be too much for Martin to publicly offer condolences to Zhao’s family? One could only imagine how the paranoid Chinese officials would respond-how many millions of dollars in trade (consisting mostly of useless trinkets costing less than $20 that we import) would be lost. Certainly we would get the cold shoulder from our cousins in the States and elsewhere. Also today, I read in The Independent that Britain’s foreign minister (who also happens to be in Beijing) plans to push the EU remove sanctions that bar the sale of arms to China; sanctions put in place directly in response to the Tiananmen massacres.
I suppose this whole episode is a reminder of not only how a communist government acts when confronted with a skeleton from its closet, but how governments in the West seem to be increasingly afraid to confront China, given its newly appointed status as an ‘emerging superpower’. China is in the news a lot these days, though mostly for reasons economic in nature; it wasn’t so long ago that human rights dominated news from China. But with China’s economy growing so rapidly (thanks in large part to Zhao), and dozens of Western governments lining up to help fuel its growth, it seems likely that conditions in China will continue to be reported in terms of GDP for the foreseeable future.
posted by Tennessee Jed at 9:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home