People have wondered for years what the long-term effects of China's one-child policy would be. US President George W. Bush's recent visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing ought to have given us some food for thought.
Several of the young men and women in the audience Bush addressed were born after the one-child policy was adopted in 1979. They are the first generation of "little emperors," as the children born in the 1980s have come to be called. These young people are strangers to war and revolution. They see China as it is -- a modern nation where opportunities to succeed abound. They wear the newest fashions and dye their hair. They watch MTV and read fiction on the Internet. But one fact remains: they did not grow up in an open society; they do not understand the meaning of dissent.
Tsinghua students are coming of age in a society that seems extremely open. Financial markets have been slowly unlocked, Hollywood culture has infiltrated all corners of society, high technology has found its niche and BMWs and Audis are the new rage.
Yet behind all the glamour and glitz lie serious questions about the future of China. When asked for his opinion on the Taiwan situation, Bush responded that he hoped there would be a "peaceful solution."
"Why can't you use the phrase `peaceful reunification?'" one student asked. "Why does the US continue to show an allegiance to Taiwan after all these years?"
Had China's media been more open while these students were growing up, they would have learned the history of the opposition party in Taiwan and they would have read about Taiwan's presidential elections. They would know about the Formosa magazine incident of the 1970s and that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), was the defense lawyer for dissidents imprisoned as a result of that incident. They would also know the details of the peaceful movement led by Tsinghua alumni and others that culminated in bloodshed at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
They are familiar with none of this history because the Chinese media have kept this information from them. Hollywood films and foreign cars, Internet cafes and cellphones are not evidence of a fully open society.
Americans are seasoned missionaries of democracy. They often, however, take one thing for granted. Americans enjoy the benefits of an open media. They make their decisions on the basis of the information provided them. Every American has access to a multitude of views and the freedom to disagree without fear of repercussions. There are heavy responsibilities that come with such freedom, and the system has many quirks and more than a few faults. But, they have unfettered access to the information they need. People in China do not.
Talk of democracy, of popular elections and freedom of religion is useless in a society without a free and open media.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) is not a revolutionary of the old ilk. He has never been to war. He has guided China into an era of unprecedented prosperity.
In almost every respect, China has striven to create a system that resembles that of the US. Politicians and ordinary citizens alike have a deep respect for American ideals, if not always for American methods. But just as the US has its ideals, so does China.
Jiang's chosen successor, Vice President Hu Jintao (
Bush and former president Bill Clinton may be perhaps the two luckiest presidents in Washing-ton's long and winding history with China. The US can no longer claim Russia as its enemy. It is the only superpower on earth. The US government and the American people have a tremendous opportunity before them and an audience ripe for mature, cautious guidance.
American presidents should not, however, be missionaries. China has been invaded, its cities carved into concessions policed by foreign governments. Its history of foreign missionary presence is complex and troubled. The word "religion" and everything it connotes cannot be easily thrown around in China.
Democratic elections are a given in the US. But more importantly, injustices at polling places around the country are publicized and addressed because of America's open media and a legal sys-tem that provides recourse, not because the US has a democratic election system in place.
There is nothing more critical to China's future than the creation of a free and open media and a legal system that protects the rights of all citizens. When International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs) become available to all publishers -- private, institutional and governmental -- when independent publishers and freelance writers are given the opportunity to work according to international publishing standards from within the borders of their own country, only then will China be capable of progressing toward discussion of a national electoral system.
Americans must confront the reality that the US cannot remain the only global superpower indefinitely. The EU, India and China, all represent a complex challenge to the current world structure. China has been patient. It has withstood revolutions, national disasters, the bombing of an embassy, arguments over airspace and a renegade province. It has a historical complacency that the US could never fully understand or accept.
Those "little emperors" in Bush's audience last month are short on patience and long on nationalistic pride and fervor. Unless they are afforded a full view of US society, politics and people, unless they have the opportunity to read the unedited texts of speeches given by Chen and other members of Taiwan's communities, they will be unable to make truly informed decisions. And that can only be a precursor of trouble to come.
One day, Tsinghua students and faculty will have access to all the news and information that much of the rest of the world takes for granted. Only then will China have an open society. Above all else, a free media should be the focus of US policy in China.
Bei Ling, a poet and research associate at Harvard's Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, is the executive director of the Independent Chinese PEN Center.
The recent passing of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), known to many as “Big S,” due to influenza-induced pneumonia at just 48 years old is a devastating reminder that the flu is not just a seasonal nuisance — it is a serious and potentially fatal illness. Hsu, a beloved actress and cultural icon who shaped the memories of many growing up in Taiwan, should not have died from a preventable disease. Yet her death is part of a larger trend that Taiwan has ignored for too long — our collective underestimation of the flu and our low uptake of the
For Taipei, last year was a particularly dangerous period, with China stepping up coercive pressures on Taiwan amid signs of US President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, which eventually led his Democratic Party to force him to abandon his re-election campaign. The political drift in the US bred uncertainty in Taiwan and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region about American strategic commitment and resolve. With America deeply involved in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the last thing Washington wanted was a Taiwan Strait contingency, which is why Biden invested in personal diplomacy with China’s dictator Xi Jinping (習近平). The return of
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long been a cornerstone of US foreign policy, advancing not only humanitarian aid but also the US’ strategic interests worldwide. The abrupt dismantling of USAID under US President Donald Trump ‘s administration represents a profound miscalculation with dire consequences for global influence, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. By withdrawing USAID’s presence, Washington is creating a vacuum that China is eager to fill, a shift that will directly weaken Taiwan’s international position while emboldening Beijing’s efforts to isolate Taipei. USAID has been a crucial player in countering China’s global expansion, particularly in regions where
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), known affectionately as “Big S,” recently passed away from pneumonia caused by the flu. The Mandarin word for the flu — which translates to “epidemic cold” in English — is misleading. Although the flu tends to spread rapidly and shares similar symptoms with the common cold, its name easily leads people to underestimate its dangers and delay seeking medical treatment. The flu is an acute viral respiratory illness, and there are vaccines to prevent its spread and strengthen immunity. This being the case, the Mandarin word for “influenza” used in Taiwan should be renamed from the misleading
RSS