The case of Chen Guangcheng has exposed how fragile the Chinese Communist Party’s control may be. The incompetence of its repressive apparatus has been exposed.
The drama of Chen Guangcheng, the blind self-taught lawyer who made a daring escape from his captors in his home village in Shandong to the American Embassy in Beijing this month, has almost certainly earned its place in Chinese history. Future generations will likely compare Chen to the lone student who stood in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. It’s doubtful whether a more inspiring film script could have been written that would do justice to the courage and defiance embodied by Chen’s story.
The apparent agreement between Beijing and Washington to allow Chen to go to the United States as a visiting scholar in the very near future may have put an end to this heart-wrenching episode for now, but the fallout from this event, both for Chinese diplomacy and the ruling Communist Party’s ability to maintain control in an increasingly volatile political environment, will be significant and lasting.
On the diplomatic front, the relative flexibility demonstrated by Beijing in handling this crisis has definitely prevented an even more damaging outcome. The all-important U.S.-China relationship was spared another body blow.
Yet, Beijing should find no cause for cheer. The damage done to the Chinese government’s image abroad is incalculable. For almost a week, the world was riveted by the unfolding drama of Chen’s escape. People all over the world cared about Chen’s wellbeing because he was a powerful symbol for courage and social justice. This couldn’t be good news for Chinese leaders, now seen as complicit in Chen’s mistreatment by thugs hired by local government officials. China may have invested tens of billions of dollars, including extravaganzas like the Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo, to boost its international standing. All it takes to undo such “soft power” offensives is one lonely blind man who dared to show to the rest of the world the cruelty and repressiveness of the current Chinese political system.
For the party, the domestic political fallout is perhaps even more worrying. Chen’s escape revealed the incompetence of its repressive apparatus. If more than a hundred thugs couldn’t guard a blind man, one wonders whether this costly apparatus could do much else. Another disquieting development for the Chinese government during this episode was the failure of its censorship system in blocking out the news of Chen’s escape. Of course, the censors tried hard, but China’s Twitter equivalent, the micro blogs, made their job impossible, as during the Bo Xilai scandal. There isn’t enough evidence to suggest whether such demonstration of incompetence has hurt the hardliners inside the party. While it’s conceivable that they could use these two incidents to urge tougher repressive measures in the future, it’s hard to imagine that their political standing has increased as a result of the Chen story.
If anything, the Chen drama suggests that fear of repression is dissipating within China. Chen escaped with the help of a network of friends and human rights activists, who risked their lives and liberty to spirit him away from danger and into the U.S. Embassy. More remarkably, after the Chen story broke, many of the same activists fearlessly served as the conduit between Chen and the outside world, even though several of them were detained and beaten up by the police. For the Chinese Communist Party, this is perhaps the most worrisome development – long-repressed dissidents are less afraid to challenge the regime directly. To the extent that authoritarian regimes maintain power largely through fear, the loss of fear on the part of the opposition initially and the ordinary people afterwards is almost certain to portend a profound crisis.
Photo Credit: U.S. State Department
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Frankie Fook-lun Leung
where do Chinese leaders send their children for education? Where do corrupt Chinese bureaucrats hide their money? Where do corrupt Chinese bureaucrats send their wives and relatives to get foreign residence? Why?
MAJOR LOWEN GIL MARQUEZ, PHIL ARMY
The leadership of Mr.Chen Guancheng for his people in China is a great leaf of democracy of the Chinese people inside the government of the Chinese communist leadership. The Chinese people itself sacrifice there life in helping Chen the icon of Chinese democracy to escape from the brutal Chinese communist, his escape showing to the world that there is a democracy inside china and it is originated from its people who did not like the the abusive, repressive and in human government of the Chinese communist government, the Chinese people wanted to be free from the bondage of communist government and they see that Mr Chen will lead the to the modern promise land in china that their country will be free of Chinese communist government and such communist thoughts will be erased in the crust of the earth…
That all Chinese people must join hand in hand with Mr. Chen Guancheng in having a bloodless people power against the few communist government, the voice of the Chinese people is the voice of Budha…
That all peace activist in the world should also help Mr. Chen in Quad media in propagating the democratic aim of the Chinese people to free there homeland from the Chinese communist regime…
Frankie Fook-lun Leung
As a lawyer and a law lecturer, I was constantly being asked by my law students outside China: If China cannot guarantee the protection of basic human rights of her citizens, how can we expect its government to protect the contractual rights or investment interests of foreign entities? Can the Chinese authorities give me an answer to satisfy my students or clients.
John Chan
@Frankie Fook-lun Leung,
Isn’t the ever-increasing FDI in China the answer you need regarding the protection of contractual rights in China?
What kind of lawyer and lecturer you are? Don’t you know research is the fundamental work of a creditable lawyer and lecturer?
Frankie Fook-lun Leung
I only exchange ideas as an academic and don’t not trade personal insults. I taught Chinese law at Hong Kong University, Loyola Law School, Stanford Law School and University of Southern California law School. For your information and reference.
Frankie Fook-lun Leung
For example, I teach swimmer’s life-saving. You ask me: don’t you see so many people swimming in the sea and so few got drowned, what do you teach life-saving? See the logic. May be you don’t.
Frankie Fook-lun Leung
where do China’s princelings go when they want an education? The West. Where do the rich and corrupt in China send their money? The West. Do they go to the Soviet? I have not yet seen one lately.