Also, students and intellectuals today tend to care less about the country's future. Over the years, Beijing has learned to play softball -- luring the intelligentsia with offers of material wealth and government posts -- to divert their energy. Many have succumbed to the temptation and muted their criticism of the regime. Some of my acquaintances, for instance, lead upper-class lives, no longer mindful of the pro-democracy crusade. I guess that is part of the price for embracing capitalism.
TT: How do you respond to allegations that students in the Tiananmen demonstration were pawns of a power struggle among the top brass in government?
Zhang: The student protest was spontaneous. As a frontline participant, I know that for sure. Certainly some politicians sought to use the movement to advance their own careers. Zhao, then China's president, intended to pressure more conservative elements within the party into liberal reforms. Former premier Li Peng (李鵬), on the other hand, seized on the turmoil to thwart Zhao's agenda. As Zhao was sympathetic with the students, we threw our weight behind him. We didn't mind being used in that manner. Unfortunately, the hardliners got the upper hand and Zhao was purged and put under house arrest. By failing to react positively to the student protests, China missed a great opportunity for political reform.
TT: Have you tried to return to China?
Zhang: Many times. But the Chinese authorities refuse to grant me a visa. They would arrest me on the spot if I were to set foot in the country. More than 200 people, up from 20, are on the so-called blacklist, including Gao Zhan (高瞻), the Chinese American scholar who has been detained since her trip back to China [in February]. Her arrest, which also enraged the White House, is linked to her former trips to Taiwan. Beijing tends to label anyone who visits Taiwan as a spy. That testifies to how far China has gone in improving its human rights record.
TT: Brought up with Chinese communist teaching that Taiwan is part of China and later studying cross-strait relations in the US, how do you view the standoff between Taipei and Beijing?
Zhang: It is a delicate issue that takes leaders on both sides great wisdom to handle. I would suggest an approach featuring more tolerance and less ideology. So be it if the people of Taiwan prefer the status quo. Let time have its way.
RSS