Chinese Democracy

For quite some time there’s been discussion within the sphere of political thinkers over the possibility of Chinese Democracy, as more than just another Guns n’ Roses album.  Caught in the current of this wave of political unrest washing through the Middle East, the leadership of the CCP has once again started to speak of a unique Chinese approach to democracy.  Amid government crackdowns in response to the relatively small “jasmine revolution” movement, there are continued signs of democratic growth in the nation’s system of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

While there is no reason to expect that some of the universal principles of democracy will be accepted by China’s government any time in the near future, elections on a municipal level offer building blocks for future development of representative government.  It’s been the standard argument of the government that a rapid transition to “western style democracy” would lead rapidly to chaos and an unraveling of social order in China.  Though I’m hardly one to take for granted the party line of authoritarian regimes, perhaps there’s something to the government’s approach to gradual and controlled social change.

To a degree I tend to understand and agree with the late Samuel Huntington, and the sea of political “realists” before him in recognizing the value of stability.  There has been no shortage of examples of the harsh impacts of rapid political, social and economic change in the last two decades so perhaps there’s some value in this more managed transition.  Particularly in the area of economics, China’s managed transition has evaded some of the rather harsh impacts of a suddenly liberalized market that other areas have suffered, impacts which could have been devastating given the size of the state’s population.  Unfortunately in any discussion of “managed change” there’s always the difficulty of whether or not transition will ever occur so long as some benefit from the status quo.

China & Political Change

Regularly in these last few weeks, political thinkers have risked curious and typically hopeful glances toward China for signs that the political change demanded in the Middle East might spread to the Chinese regime as well.  A number of comparative analyses have contrasted the Chinese government with any number of the Middle Eastern states currently locked in turmoil or transitioning to new regimes.  Though I’m of the mind that said analyses are somewhat far-fetched, I do think the activities of the Chinese government in recent weeks deserve a great deal of attention.  At present China’s ties and investments into the politics of the Middle East are extensive, and the activities of the Chinese government through crises like that in Libya offer potential insight into policy in the years ahead. Continue reading »

Reactions to Political Change

Image courtesy of Boise Weekly & Getty Images

I was initially uncertain about writing more on the continuing crisis in Egypt.  Largely my purpose in blog writing tends toward discussing issues outside the spotlight of mainstream political news media, but the relevance of the current crisis to democracy promotion is such that it would be folly not to discuss the subject further.  The political change currently rolling through the Middle East has the potential to shape the region for the foreseeable future, and so I thought it would be worth taking a moment to discuss the reactions of other world powers to the current political change.  More specifically, the political reactions in the United States, European Union, China and Israel are vastly different and illuminating in regard to the nation’s issues with the Middle East and the ideological promotion of democracy.

In Israel, as in most nations, standards and opinions vary among the populace, the government and most obviously the media.  That being said the most regular sentiments expressed by Israel’s media have been of resistance to potential change and concern over “extremism”.  Of particular note has been the series of harsh critiques of President Obama’s approach to the crisis as naïve, ill informed and unaware of the region’s history. Continue reading »

Human Rights and Sino-American Relations

In many ways the present relationship between the US and China is relatively unique, and in recent days the nature of this relationship has led to constant frustrations within the Human Rights community and criticism of perceived US inaction.  As much as I may feel the US could do more to promote Human Rights around the world, it’s important to consider not only the current state of governance in China but the nature of Sino-American relations before assuming the specific challenges in China are ours to fix.  I’m rarely one to leap in defense of those who govern us, but specifically in regard to our relations with China I think a bit of recalculation of our expectations might be wise.

All too often criticisms of the US’ activities in China seem rooted in the idea that the US has the ability, through some form of influence, to make the government of China act as we wish.  And though the US is certainly a country used to negotiating from a position of power, China is neither a failed state nor a nation deeply subordinate to our own.  If anything, the nation is one we struggle constantly to ally ourselves with, despite constant roadblocks from the populace and governments of both nations.  Our relationship with China lays somewhere in the nebulous area between allies and competitors, but certainly there is no inkling of subservience on either side of the table. Continue reading »

China’s Internet Woes & the Cabletastrophy

Image courtesy of J.Anderson & The Tech Herald

James Glanz & John Markoff’s recent New York Times article on China’s discomfort with the internet is another in the recent string of articles discussing the WikiLeaks scandal and foreign policy.  I have to admit, on reading their article I found myself more than a little tickled at some of the issues brought up.  In light of the scandals, one could certainly argue that the government of China has been rather reasonable in fearing the dangers presented by the internet.  Given my appreciation of democracy as the preferred method of governance, of course I think China would be well served to loosen up, but in my own country the government’s reaction to the diplomatic cabletastrophy has been anything but forgiving.

I’m sure that there will be lots of news in the next few days regarding the accusation of Chinese “cyber attacks” on Google, but the issue I find interesting is one that seemed largely a side note.  On reading the article I was struck by the continued “misunderstanding” regarding China’s interpretation of the relationship between private organizations and the governments they exist in.  Earlier this year drama arose between the governments of China and Norway, over the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.  Along similar lines, in the recent diplomatic cable leak there are claims that Chinese officials put pressure on the United States government to censor Google Earth.

Warnings that the US would be responsible if terrorists used the information presented through Google to attack China, strike me as similar to the issues between China and Norway.  These incidents speak to a strange broader problem in China’s government either honestly or rhetorically failing to understand the separation between government and private institutions. In some ways I suspect WikiLeaks has a great deal more to fear from antagonizing the government of China, even collaterally, than it does the government of the United States.