Posted on 06/03/2005 12:19:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING - Sixteen years after the bloody crackdown at Tiananmen Square, China's grip on dissent has tightened. From religion to the media, political activism to the Internet, Hu Jintao's regime watches all - and silences any challenge to the Communist Party.
Members of non-sanctioned churches risk detention, potentially incendiary chat rooms are shut down, newspapers are kept on a short rein and employees of foreign news organizations have been arrested and accused of spying. Last month, an international conference on democracy planned for Beijing was canceled.
When Hu came to power in 2002, many had hoped that the new president might be willing to re-examine the June 4, 1989, crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. But he has refused appeals to do so.
"Hu Jintao is by inclination a more authoritarian figure than (former President) Jiang Zemin," said Steve Tsang, a Chinese political specialist at Britain's Oxford University.
"He takes a harder line against dissent than Jiang. He's much more decisive. He can see what needs to be done to maintain the regime's position and he's willing to do it."
This week, Beijing accused a detained Hong Kong-based reporter of spying for "a foreign intelligence agency."
Ching Cheong, chief China correspondent for Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper, was detained last month. His wife said he was trying to obtain a manuscript of a book on the late Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who was purged after sympathizing with the protesters in 1989.
The protests are still a sensitive subject for China's rulers, who have deemed them a counterrevolutionary riot. Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed when the government sent in tanks and troops to end the protests.
Each year, authorities try to prevent public memorials on the anniversary by confining dissidents to their homes or removing them from the capital. Security officers patrol Tiananmen Square and quickly arrest anyone who unfurls a banner or shouts a remembrance.
"Even if I don't see police in front of the house, my phones are tapped. I am never at ease," said Ding Zilin, whose son was among those killed. She is a co-founder of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group that represents families of the dead.
"The repression has become worse since Hu Jintao took power," she said.
The Tiananmen Mothers released an open letter to Hu last week, appealing to the government to reassess the crackdown, which Chinese leaders have defended as necessary for what they say is the country's stunning economic success.
"We've done this for 10 years and we've never gotten an answer," Ding said.
Hu's government has presented itself as one dedicated to improving the lives of the people, especially the rural poor. There is also a strong sense of corporate efficiency. Those who do not measure up - like former Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa - are forced out.
Hu has also shown little patience for public dissatisfaction, said David Zweig, director of the Hong Kong-based Center on China's Transnational Relations.
"He certainly has not shown himself to be the liberal that people thought he would be," Zweig said. "He has responded quite forcefully to challenges to the party's authority. They are very nervous about social unrest. They want to hold on tight to their power."
Aside from favoring one-party rule, Hu's agenda is unclear.
"The difference between Jiang and Hu is that Hu is far more popular than Jiang among the Chinese public," said Cheng Li, a professor of political science at Hamilton College in New York.
"Hu has more political capital. The message is a mixed one. Hu wants to promote political reforms, as he states, but these political reforms should not be out of control."
Civil uprisings in its Central Asian neighbors - Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Georgia - have sparked unease in Beijing that a 1989-style protest could happen again.
"They have stirred up the worries of the Chinese leadership so they feel justified taking a hard line," said Lai Hongyi, a research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.
"In recent years, there has been a drastic increase in protests," Lai said. "If they still allow the liberals to speak out, that could instigate more incidents, it would encourage a bigger movement and destabilize the government and the party's control."
Gee, a communist/leftist government whacking down freedoms. Dang near reminds me of what the socialist democrats want for the USA.
Attempting to walk the fine line between Capitalism and Communism tends to give people ideas. Communist regimes then need to either crack down or surrender to Freedom's call.
And I just don't see China's Communists deciding to give up and hold free elections and a Constitutional Convention.
Hmm...sounds to me a little like Russia under Putin.
Oh, but the American and European left think Bush is a "Totalitarian dictator"...they don't know the MEANING of the word. They should try living in China, NK, or Cuba sometime.
Dang near reminds me of what the socialist democrats want for the USA.
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Absolutely! They have been listening to Kennedy, Dean and Hitlery again!!
And we have CEOs of major US tech companies falling all over themselves to build R&D centers there. Just brilliant.
When China nationalizes all of those assets the CEO's built in China, the CEO's will be in hot bean soup.
Russians have more personal freedoms than americans. As long as you do not try to start a revolution they will leave you alone there.
Well, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but Putin has had political opponents and people who speak out against him arrested and jailed. The main point here is dissent, not actual slaughtering.
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