Editorial: China needs to earn respect

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) wrapped up his US visit by telling an audience at Yale University that his country plans to follow its own path. He said that China will draw on the political experiences of other countries, but will not simply copy the political models of foreigners.

This statement shows that the long-term strategy of the US -- engaging China economically in the hope that it will transform itself politically -- has so far been an abject failure. China is basically giving the Bush administration the middle finger and saying "we will manufacture and sell you all the cheap consumer goods you want, but please don't lecture us on democracy and human rights."

This also reveals the inherently two-faced nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The CCP has schizophrenic tendencies. To the outside world it gives the appearance of a rational, calm entity; presenting China as a responsible "stakeholder" in the international community by leading efforts to broker a deal in the North Korean nuclear talks. Yet domestically it remains a brutal, heartless bully that slaps down any individual or group that presents even the slightest challenge to its hold on power.

For evidence of this one only has to look at the crackdown on Falun Gong, the heavy jail terms meted out to the founders of the China Democracy Party, the increasing number of Internet dissidents sent to prison and the violent way Beijing deals with protesting farmers.

The people of Taiwan are more aware of this than most because they occupy a unique position that enables them to view both sides of Beijing's split personality.

Taiwan is detached enough to see how China treats it in the international community. Sometimes it turns on the charm, as when it coordinated former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) visit to occur just before Hu's US trip, making it appear to the international community as if everything between Taiwan and China was fine, then handing out seemingly generous economic offers and talking of mutual prosperity and a peaceful resolution.

Yet Taiwan also sees how China continues to work ceaselessly behind the scenes to squeeze its international space, kick it out and keep it out of all international organizations -- even non-governmental ones -- and force the world to accept its "one China" policy.

And while it is easy for Hu to placate the international community and tell them everything is fine, it seems like he is having a much harder time convincing the millions of Chinese left behind by economic reform. Official statistics say there were 87,000 protests last year by various disgruntled groups, a gross underestimate at best.

There has also been a big increase in persecution, crackdowns and a general lack of tolerance for dissent over the last few years.

In their increasing desperation, Hu and the party leadership are coming up with new ideas as they seek to hang onto control.

According to a recent article in Newsweek, they have reintroduced the learning of Confucian values into schools. After suffering decades of vilification by the communist authorities and being castigated as personifying everything bad about "old China," the sage and his concepts of respect for authority have been rehabilitated by the leadership in a bid to pacify younger generations, counter radical thinking and nurture respect for the ruling party.

But Hu and his regime must be aware that respect has to be earned.

China may have won respect in the international arena, if it wants to be respected domestically and in Taiwan, then it has to start earning it.