At the sixth plenum of the Central Committee of the 16th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) National Congress last September, Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Last months' issue of the Hong Kong publication Kaifang revealed that Hu's succession speech included the following text:
"Enemy forces always use public opinion to build a propaganda base. International monopoly-capitalist groups led by the US relied on ideology to bring down the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party was absolutely not a defeat of Marxism and socialism. In the final analysis, it was the result of a gradual distancing from, turning the back on, and betrayal of Marxism, socialism and the fundamental interests of the people. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev is the culprit behind the great changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and a betrayer of socialism. He is absolutely not a meritorious statesman, and anyone who says he is does not stand on the side of the Soviet people and human progress."
On Sept. 29, the CCP's publicity department, in the spirit of the fourth plenum, called a meeting for all the nation's media at which it distributed a document containing 29 articles stipulating issues the media is forbidden to report on. At the meeting, the deputy head of the department, Ji Bingxuan (
The reliability of this information has not been refuted by the CCP, and, what's more, it is reflected in the party's statements and actions.
First, the introductions to the meeting given in the Fourth Plenum Communique and Zeng Qinghong (
Second, just prior to the meeting, in the middle of September, Li Changchun (
Third, following his participation in the APEC summit in Chile, Hu visited Cuba, where he donated goods and materials to a value of more than US$10 million, and signed a 16-item agreement on political, economic and cultural cooperation. Hu and Cuban President Fidel Castro even met twice during the visit.
Fourth, the "rectification" of newspapers and the closing down of Web sites this winter have led to arrests of dissidents. Some have been given prison sentences, while others were released after being given a warning. These dissidents include the well known Internet authors Liu Xiaobo (
At the time, however, Hu seemed to have relied on the expectations about the "new politics of Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶)" to deceive the outside world, which seemingly blames this wave of arrests on Jiang, who was in love with his power and very unwilling to let go of the CMC chairmanship.
Hu's waving of the Mao Zedong (
In order to consolidate his hold on power and play up to the hawkish faction, Hu must make nationalism a big issue.
Not only did he bring forward the anti-secession law, which will unilaterally change the cross-strait status quo, he also -- unscrupulously and in a threatening move -- sent ships into Japan's territorial waters. In early November, Chinese submarines circled the important US naval base at Guam. These openly provocative actions, in conjunction with Hu's recently increased efforts to oppose Japan, should result in the US and Japan, and in particular US President George W. Bush, re-assessing their view of Hu.
The democratic system in Western countries developed from opposition to the totalitarian systems in Europe during the middle ages, survived 20th century fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan, and flourished during the struggle with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
But the West never understood the totalitarian dictatorship of the CCP -- and even to a certain extent sympathized with it -- because of a failure to understand the hypocrisy, deceit and plotting that has been going on during 2,000 years of Chinese totalitarianism. US opposition against China throughout modern and contemporary history has often failed or ended in a draw.
If we want to deal with the CCP, we must learn from the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten. While serving in Hong Kong, he was in constant contact with the CCP. Five years of trials and tribulations turned him into a true "China hand."
Paul Lin is a commentator based in New York.
Translated by Perry Svensson
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS