Following the onset of reform in 1978, China has become the world's factory. By late February, its foreign exchange reserves had reached a total of US$853.7 billion, surpassing Japan's US$831.6 billion to become the largest in the world.
Meanwhile, the human rights of the Chinese people remain severely restricted -- as can be seen from a widely reported letter to the State Council by Li Changping (李昌平), former party secretary of a rural district of Jianli County, Hubei Province, in which he talks about the exploitation of farmers, or in Chen Guidi's (陳桂棣) and Wu Chuntao's (吳春桃) extensive A Survey of Chinese Peasants, which describes the plight of farmers.
In step with the times, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is now "globalizing" its clampdown on human rights, a process that can be roughly divided into three parts.
First, the CCP is capitalizing on the enormous business opportunities that have followed on China's internationalization to entice the international community to help it suppress human rights. Companies such as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Skype have agreed to install keyword software to enable the filtering out of unwanted information from their networks.
The second part consists of a clampdown on human rights by multinational companies themselves. In 2003, the US cosmetics firm Mary Kay and German carmaker Volkswagen gave in to the CCP's demands that they fire anyone practicing Falun Gong in the work place.
The Chinese government has also taken advantage of its system of labor reformation camps and prisons and laid down preferential treatment policies aimed at encouraging and attracting joint ventures. Products from these joint ventures are exported to 13 countries and regions, including the US, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.
The third part consists of the CCP "exporting" its suppression of human rights. This includes using hard cash to gain control of Chinese-language media around the world and turn them into CCP mouthpieces.
China even resorts to violent persecution of Falun Gong followers around the world. Some examples are the shooting of a Falun Gong practitioner in South Africa, the attack on Li Yuan (
A review of China's global clampdown on human rights turns up an endless list of such incidents.
The international community has long stood by silently and ignored China's actions, in effect providing indirect encouragement. One example is how the UN's Human Rights Commission was unable to add China's human-rights abuses to its agenda. The commission was recently abolished and replaced by a Human Rights Council, but the problem remains equally serious, as many countries with deplorable human-rights records are members of the new council.
There are, of course, improvements, as China's human-rights problems are receiving more attention. One example is how the US recently called Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems to a congressional hearing to answer to suspicions that they are assisting China's human-rights abuses.
US President George W. Bush has also met with three Chinese Christians in the White House, and during a recent visit to China, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Chen and three other people in the German embassy in Beijing to find out more about China's agricultural problems.
Chang Ching-hsi is a professor in the department of economics at National Taiwan University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, people have been asking if Taiwan is the next Ukraine. At a G7 meeting of national leaders in January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that Taiwan “could be the next Ukraine” if Chinese aggression is not checked. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that if Russia is not defeated, then “today, it’s Ukraine, tomorrow it can be Taiwan.” China does not like this rhetoric. Its diplomats ask people to stop saying “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow.” However, the rhetoric and stated ambition of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Taiwan shows strong parallels with