Telegram, 3 September 2013

Recently, senior Chinese Communist Party officials circulated Document No. 9, a report that lists seven dangers to their grip on power, which has been largely unchallenged since the founding of modern China in 1949.

We’re delighted to see that “Western constitutional democracy” tops their list.

Media independence and universal values of human rights were also among the ideas that Chinese leaders seem to fear the most.

The good news for China’s leaders is that, at least so far, that nation’s economic growth — capitalist in all but name — has meant a rising standard of living for millions of Chinese, thus dampening enthusiasm for political change.

But the long-term prospect for single-party rule in China is not merely bleak, but nonexistent.

Even among the most astute political observers, few foresaw the sudden demise of the former Soviet Union, and the liberation of Eastern Europe.

That was more than 20 years ago, and the forces that pervade today’s globalized economy and society are that much more pervasive and potent.

They spell doom for those who would impose a single political vision on any nation-state, never mind one bursting with bright and ambitious peoples, as diverse in languages, culture and ideas as any place on Earth.

China has long suppressed ethnic and religious minorities, from its brutal invasion and suppression of Tibet in 1950 to its repression of its Uighur Muslim minority in the far west of the country.

And political dissent in China is still ruthlessly put down. Most notably, there was the bloodshed of the Tiananmen Square uprising in the spring of 1989, in which hundreds, perhaps thousands of Chinese were killed when they challenged the government.

To this day, dozens of Chinese intellectuals, political activists, artists, writers, and businessmen remain imprisoned for alleged offenses against the state — actions that would be viewed as mere enrichments to the political and cultural dialogue of most any Western nation.

China is a powerful and rising force in the world, but economic success and political freedom are inextricably linked.

If China is to take her place among the great nations of the world, her leaders must recognize that their hold on power must be loosened, for the good of their people and all the world.

The issues of Document No. 9 is a sobering reminder of just how much China’s leaders still have to learn.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130903/NEWS/309039997/-1/NEWS04