Reflections on June-4th Incident (Three)

Populism or Democracy, which would decide the future of China.

By He Qinglian on June 14, 2012.

Sun Yat-sen had once referred “the People’s livelihood”, “the People’s identity” and “the People’s rights” collectively as the “Three Principles of the People”, which was at one point the main theme of the Chinese pursuit of a bright future in the 20th century. 

However, in authoritarian and totalitarian countries where there is a lack of civil awareness, “the People’s identity” theory could easily be turned into senseless xenophobia; “the People’s livelihood” theory, [a negative form of] populism; and “the People’s rights” theory, which is the prerequisite for protecting the people’s livelihood and ensuring both the state and the populace would grow rich, could be swept aside with extreme ease.

Reflections on June-4th Incident (Two)

Hope of Russia: The Middle Class’ awakening awareness of their rights.

By He Qinglian on June 14, 2012.

There is a feature in China’s foreign policy in recent years: whenever Western countries—the United States in particular—made any “unfriendly” actions, the Chinese government would definitely lodge a strong protest; yet however “unfriendly” Russia may be to China—whether it is the China threat theory that repeatedly emerges in Russia, or the unfair and inhumane treatments that Chinese traders and nationals in Russia have often been subjected to, the Chinese government would basically respond in a low key approach. Chinese media, too, turn a blind eye to them. Their attitude toward Vladimir Putin has been completely different from their attitude to heads of Western countries. They would spare no ink when they write about scandals that are connected to Western heads of state or government; yet when they write about Vladimir Putin, their reports comprise nothing but praise, and they generally do not criticize him.

Reflections on June-4th Incident (One)

Reflections on the June-4th Incident (One): why endogenous communist countries reject Western-styled democracy?

By He Qinglian on June 1, 2012.

This year marks the 23rd anniversary of the June-4th incident, and it has been more than  21 years since the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the Socialist bloc in Eastern and Central Europe. In most of the countries where the socialist system was imposed on them, for example Eastern European countries, the humiliation and pain caused by Communism gradually fades away after the generation(s) that personally experienced it has grown old. In endogenous communist countries like Russia and China, however, the former remains in the state of enlightened despotism, the latter has yet to reach that state.

It is interesting to compare the history and cultural background of the two countries.

Putin and Beijing, Mubarak is Waving at You!

Putin and Beijing, Mubarak is Waving at You!

By He Qinglian on March 20, 2012

I made a comparison between this two strong men in power of different countries because a strong parallel could easily be drawn between the way Vladimir Putin won the Russian presidential election and the way Hosni Mubarak became elected. 

Li Zhaoxing’s Common-Sense Fallacy

Li Zhaoxing’s Common-Sense Fallacy— ‘Direct elections difficult to implement in China’
By He Qinglian
Modified version of the Epoch Times translation.

Li Zhaoxing, a spokesman for the fifth session of the 11th National People’s Congress, dubbed the two meetings, delivered a fatal blow to the “political reform” fantasy propagated by regime leaders in recent years.

At a press conference on March 4, before the opening of the meeting, Li started out by commenting positively on direct elections, but then switched and said a direct election system across the country is not suitable for China.

Future of China

Future of China:  Establishment of a Democratic System Outweighs the Discussion of Who would Govern

By He Qinglian on February 23, 2012

(translated by kRiZcPEc)

Since February this year, whether the “Princelings” should take over or senior cadres ascended from the common people (Senior Cadres hereafter) should continue to govern appeared once again to be a big question crucial to the future of China after Wang Lijun, former Public Security Chief of Chongqing, stirred up quite a lot of speculations about his stay at the US consulate-general in Chengdu. All those commentaries published in overseas Chinese media that seemed to have come directly from Zhongnanhai made the water more murky and the two sides strove to give the audience an impression that they support one faction and not the other was because if that other faction rule, grave disaster would happen to the Chinese people.

The complex implications of Taiwan general election 2012

By He Qinglian on January 18, 2012
(Translated by kRiZcPEc)

(Original Article in Chinese)

Ma Ying-jeou won in 2012 Taiwan general election, a result that the Blue camp and the business sector of the Island cheered for, and China and the United States felt relieved with.

This time, Ma Ying-jeou got 6,872,524 votes, making up 51.6% of the ballots; Tsai Ing-wen got 6,083,443 votes, or 45.7%; the two sides differed by about six percentage points. This surely wasn't a result of Tsai not having enough charisma. To be fair, no other person from the Green camp could have done a better job than she did. After Chen Shui-bian imprisoned for corruption, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with its reputation severely tarnished, didn't quite have the strength to restart. At such a time, Tsai Ing-wen was the only opponent who, with her clean image, would make the Blue camp and Beijing pull out every stop to secure victory in the election. The real issue reflected by the election result is: Taiwan is too far away from the United States and too close to China. This conclusion is backed by the evaluation result from the International Committee for Fair Elections in Taiwan, which comprised twenty-one observers from eight countries. The Committee said that in this round of presidential and legislative elections, the public of Taiwan has by and large exhibited the free will in casting their votes. But during the election campaign there was still unfairness, in particular these two issues: influence of past authoritarian rule and foreign intervention.

How far away democratic politics is from China

He Qinglian on Dec 30, 2011

It has become a national consensus that China must implement democracy, and that the sooner that happens, the better. Yet divergent opinions on how democracy is to be implemented, and how great a price the populace is willing to pay to bring about democracy remain. The reason for this is simple: each class has its own interests to consider.

Emigration: the move to flee from the fatalistic spell of Socialism

By He Qinglian on November 8, 2011

Translated from: http://voachineseblog.com/heqinglian/2011/11/immigration/

While Russia has in formality completed a round of “democratization”, China still insists to stick with what the CCP refers to as the “Socialist path”. There is one thing these two countries have in common in the last two years: their citizens would try everything possible means to emigrate if they meet the necessary financial requirements.

The Downfall of Gaddafi overshadows Beijing

The Downfall of Gaddafi overshadows Beijing

By He Qinglian on Oct 24, 2011
[translated from http://voachineseblog.com/heqinglian/2011/10/gadhafis-death-and-beijing/]

Reading reports and commentaries about Muammar Gaddafi by Chinese media, I got the impression that somehow the death of this dictator gets on every nerve of China, the distant nation in the East. While the Chinese public cheer his downfall in all sorts of ways, the reaction from the government cannot be more different: by resorting to various expressions to stress the cost, and the cruelty of Libyan civil war, the officials deliberately portray this spontaneous resistance of the people as a Western plot to get oil.

Mao Zedong: the Giant Shadow over the Contemporary Politics of China

Written by He Qinglian
(translated by krizcpec)

In recent years, the clouds over China's future is thickening. Whether as an alternative political model for future China or as a historic question that cannot be sidestepped, Mao Zedong and his governing approach is getting more frequently into the view of the public. 

On August 27 this year, over a hundred liberals inside the Communist Party of China and intellectuals attended a seminar marking the 30^th anniversary of "The Resolution on certain historical problems of the Party since the founding of the People's Republic" (关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议), and again they stated that a correct understanding of the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong is crucial for present politics of  China. 

Perspectives to understanding the historic roles of Mao Zedong

Beijing's reluctance to face the history and its use of various propaganda machine to deliberately magnify the bright side of Mao Zedong's political carrier would result not only in the misunderstanding of Mao among the young generation, but also profound confusion in the political thinking of the Chinese people.

How would clashes of civilizations take place from now on?

Written by He Qinglian on September 8, 2011

(translated by krizcpec)

The year 2011 will be an important one in world history. Because in this year, the outbreak of “Jasmine Revolutions” in MENA make it clear that—

One) The main impetus of these revolutions is the awakening rights consciousness of the people. Given that rights consciousness is something unique to Western civilization, thus the so-called “clash of civilizations” has changed from wars between countries as well as the war on terror into confrontations between the people requesting their rights and the leader holding onto their powers inside totalitarian states;

Two) The clash between Western and Muslim civilizations has relegated to secondary status while the clash between the pseudo-Chinese civilization—a combination of Oriental despotism and Communism—and the Western civilization will become increasingly sharpened in the form of internal confrontations. 

Differences and Similarities in the influence “External Forces” has on two waves of democratization

Written on July 22, 2011
(translated by krizcpec)

By “Two waves of democratization” I mean the Third Wave of Democratization (Third Wave) that started in the 1980s and the MENA revolutions that began in 2011.

What made me wrote this post was my experience from calling programs at some radio stations. Audience from China often asked me that given the poor conditions of Chinese human rights, why aren't the international community offering any help? Judging from what they said, I felt they didn't seem to realize that the international community is formed by entities which have different interests; to them, the international community has shared values and would act unanimously whenever international disputes arise. Just to make clear to my compatriots that I didn't mean to be sarcastic, not in the slightest sense. I do feel like to analyze the international environment during the Third Wave and MENA revolutions, so that my readers would have a rough understanding of the international community.