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发帖数: 2812 | 1 Liu Xiaobo and Illusions About China
By FANG LIZHI
Published: October 11, 2010
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — I heartily applaud the Nobel Committee for awarding its
Peace Prize to the imprisoned Liu Xiaobo for his long and nonviolent
struggle for human rights in China. In doing so, the committee has
challenged the West to re-examine a dangerous notion that has become
prevalent since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre: that economic development will
inevitably lead to democracy in China.
Increasingly, throughout the late 1990s and into the new century, this
argument gained sway. Some no doubt believed it; others perhaps found it
convenient for their business interests. Many trusted the top Chinese
policymakers who sought to persuade foreign investors that if they continued
their investments without an embarrassing “linkage” to human rights
principles, all would get better at China’s own pace.
More than 20 years have passed since Tiananmen. China has officially become
the world’s second largest economy. Yet the hardly radical Liu Xiaobo and
thousands of other dissidents rot in jail for merely demanding basic rights
enshrined by the United Nations and taken for granted by Western investors
in their own countries. Human rights have not improved despite a soaring
economy.
Liu Xiaobo’s own experience over the last 20 years ought to be enough
evidence on its own to demolish any idea that democracy will automatically
emerge as a result of growing prosperity.
I knew Mr. Liu in the 1980s when he was an outspoken young man. He took part
in 1989 in the peaceful protests at Tiananmen Square and was sentenced to
two years in prison for his efforts. From then until 1999 he was in and out
of labor camps, prisons, detention centers and house arrest. In 2008, he
initiated the “Charter 08” petition calling for China to comply with the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Consequently, he was
again arrested, this time sentenced to a particularly harsh 11 years in
prison for “inciting subversion of state power” — even though China is a
signatory of the U.N. declaration.
According to human rights organizations, there are about 1,400 people
political, religious and “conscience” prisoners in prison or labor camps
across China. Their “crimes” have included membership in underground
political or religious groups, independent trade unions and nongovernmental
organizations, or they have been arrested for participating in strikes or
demonstrations and have publicly expressed dissenting political opinions.
This undeniable reality ought to be a wake up call to anyone who still
believes the autocratic rulers of China will alter their disregard of human
rights just because the country is richer. Regardless of how widely China’s
leaders have opened its markets to the outside world, they have not
retreated even half a step from their repressive political creed.
On the contrary, China’s dictators have become even more contemptuous of
the value of universal human rights. In the decade after Tiananmen, the
Communist government released 100 political prisoners in order to improve
its image. Since 2000, as the Chinese economy grew stronger and stronger and
the pressure from the international community diminished, the government
has returned to hard-line repression.
The international community should be especially concerned over China’s
breach of international agreements. Besides the U.N. Declaration on Human
Rights, China also signed the U.N. Convention Against Torture in 1988. Yet,
torture, maltreatment and psychiatric manipulation are extensively used in
detention and prison camps in China. This includes beatings, extended
solitary confinement, severely inadequate food, extreme exposure to cold and
heat and denial of medical treatment.
As the regime’s power grows with prosperity, the Communist Party feels
confident in its immunity as it violates its own Constitution. Article 35,
for example, says that “citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy
freedom of speech, of assembly, of association, of procession and of
demonstration.” Yet who can doubt that the government regularly violates
these rights.
As the unfortunate history of Japan during the first half of the 20th
century illustrates, a rising economic power that violates human rights is a
threat to peace.
Thankfully, the courageous Nobel Committee has exposed this link once again
in the case of a prospering China. The committee is absolutely right to make
a connection between respect for human rights and world peace. As Alfred
Nobel so well understood, human rights are the prerequisite for the “
fraternity between nations.”
Fang Lizhi, a professor of physics at the University of Arizona, was a
leader of the pro-democracy movement in China before fleeing the country in
1989.
Global Viewpoint / Tribune Media Services | o***e
发帖数: 3526 | 2 实话说，这文章不怎么样。
its
will
【在 b**********n 的大作中提到】
: Liu Xiaobo and Illusions About China
: By FANG LIZHI
: Published: October 11, 2010
: PHOENIX, ARIZONA — I heartily applaud the Nobel Committee for awarding its
: Peace Prize to the imprisoned Liu Xiaobo for his long and nonviolent
: struggle for human rights in China. In doing so, the committee has
: challenged the West to re-examine a dangerous notion that has become
: prevalent since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre: that economic development will
: inevitably lead to democracy in China.
: Increasingly, throughout the late 1990s and into the new century, this
| B******e
发帖数: 5730 | | b**********n
发帖数: 2812 | 4 你举几个例子
【在 B******e 的大作中提到】
: too many grammar errors
| W***9
发帖数: 4834 | 5 这些人目标明确，就是要协助西方挤垮，压散中国。狼子野心何其毒也。愿中国强大，
更强大。不管谁当权，谁使祖国强大，谁就有资格掌权。蒋介石让祖国丢失国土，
分裂国家，所以根本无资格在中国掌权。就看马英九得了。如能显现超越共产党的
能力，使国家统一，并更强大，马英九才有掌权的资格。否则免谈。====
its
will
【在 b**********n 的大作中提到】
: Liu Xiaobo and Illusions About China
: By FANG LIZHI
: Published: October 11, 2010
: PHOENIX, ARIZONA — I heartily applaud the Nobel Committee for awarding its
: Peace Prize to the imprisoned Liu Xiaobo for his long and nonviolent
: struggle for human rights in China. In doing so, the committee has
: challenged the West to re-examine a dangerous notion that has become
: prevalent since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre: that economic development will
: inevitably lead to democracy in China.
: Increasingly, throughout the late 1990s and into the new century, this
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