As people continue to be treated as "cannon fodder," the Party tries to use the economy and nationalism to save itself
The Hague (AsiaNews) – On 16 and 17 August 2015, the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition, a major group of Chinese dissidents led by Wei Jingsheng, held its second international seminar. Concerned about democracy and human rights in China, people from various countries around the world, especially Europe and the Americas, met in The Hague to exchange information and opinions about China, past and present. Out of the various topics, they agreed that:
1. The Chinese Stock Market Crash was the Inevitable Result of the Democracy and Human Rights Catastrophe in China
Since Xi Jinping came to power, he has launched another attempt to raise the bloody flag of Mao Zedong that resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people (1960-1962), and the suffering of more than one hundred millions of people due to political persecution (Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Cultural Revolution). Xi Jinping has increased political persecution of human rights defenders and political dissidents. He has resumed economic centralization, using the economy as the foundation of autocratic political tyranny. The economic policy of Xi's new administration is to combat and loot private enterprises, and to support and expand the so-called "state-owned enterprises" -- actually a group of private enterprises belonging to the interest groups of those in power. In these enterprises, those in power control all the management and administration rights, especially the personnel rights; thus, they allow the members of these interest groups and their relatives to spoil corporate profits and eat people's wealth in various ways.
These "state-owned enterprises" under the control of interest groups exploit their workers, yet receive subsidies from the state, while the people in power enjoy the profit. Thus, we see the phenomenon of state-owned enterprises "with Chinese characteristics": the owners and their relatives of these state-owned enterprises become millionaires and billionaires, yet the enterprises are having consistent losses every year.
How to support these kinds of enterprises? The blood and sweat of the workers have been drained, while the country does not have that much money to unlimitedly fill these financial black holes. Therefore, the authorities have moved to new tactics: to take money from the stockholders, as an alternative to transfusing the enterprises themselves.
In recent years, China's economy has been in decline. Under normal circumstances, the stock market should be weak. However, due to the manipulation of the Chinese government, all official media were hyping the market to lure investors with deception, which has resulted in China's stock market acting like a mad cow continuously soaring in deformity. Finally, in July this year, its stock market collapsed in an avalanche falling more than 30 percent. In August, it fell again more than 23 percent. Then the Chinese government came to the "rescue", throwing in a lot of state funds to make the stock market rebound. Actually, it bought the stocks when the market was low and got rid of them when the market was high. Just this one wave has cost many stockholders to lose everything and go into bankruptcy, while the Chinese government swept away several trillion in funds from the investors.
Because the Chinese government spent such a huge amount of money, with even the social insurance funds being invested, Chinese currency will for sure devaluate lead by this stock market crash. On the surface, it will cause rising prices, thus transplanting the economic losses to all Chinese people.
In this country without democracy and human rights, there is no transparency in government actions. After the stock market crash, the Chinese government ordered the news media not to associate the crash with the government during any discussion of the stock market. This stock market disaster was completely set off by the government, manipulated by the government, to the end to let the government profit, yet is was forbidden for the stockholders to even ask: what kind of the role did the Chinese government play? How is one to maintain the legal rights of the stockholders? Therefore, without democracy and human rights, ordinary people will always become the slaves and cash dispensers of the interest groups that this government represents. Without democracy, there is no way to eradicate these interest groups that become super rich by enslaving the people. Without human rights, the legal rights of all Chinese people cannot be maintained.
Thus, the participants of the current China Road international seminar agreed that:
To promote democracy and human rights in China is the fundamental necessity to obtain the interests of all Chinese people, including all shareholders, and to enable a stable and healthy development for China's economy.
2. The Nationality and Territory Disputes are Double-edged Swords for the Chinese Government to Redirect the Internal Conflicts in China
The Chinese authoritarian clique is leading the Chinese economy astray with economic disaster, financial disaster, and environmental disaster, etc. Thus the Chinese people want change, with public anger getting stronger and stronger nationwide. The petitioners' tide and violent acts have intensified as social conflicts have reached an unprecedented degree in Chinese history. The Chinese government has to spend more to "maintain stability" than for national defence, for it has seen the 1.3 billion Chinese people to be more dangerous than hostile nations.
To hold on to its power the Chinese government uses all means to incite nationalist sentiment, trying to the divert Chinese people's anger against other nationalities; thus stoking so-called "minority" issues inside China, and territorial and waters disputes with other countries outside of China.
If China were a country of democracy and human rights, then all areas within China, namely all regions of the Han, Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian and other ethnic groups would have direct elections at each level representing regions, provinces, cities, districts, etc., in a model of self-governance of the people themselves. That is to say in a democratic China, all regions are autonomous, not just the five "autonomous regions" defined by the Communist government. In that total autonomous environment, each region is equal to another, with economic exchange. There would be no fundament conflicts of interest between different ethnic groups, just like in the European Union now. However, in an authoritarian China, each level of government is authoritarian as well. People are unable to govern themselves at all. All people in China are suffering from the political repression and economic exploitation of the Beijing regime. This situation becomes a hotbed to generate ethnic conflicts.
The Chinese government manufactures and uses such ethnic conflicts to incite nationalist sentiment in the Han Chinese, and guide the Han to transfer their anger against the Chinese government towards the other ethnic nationalities. It has deepened the divisions between nationalities. While the Chinese government manufactures ethnic separatisms with their actual behavior, it accuses the ethnic elites who are pursuing democracy and human rights of engaging in ethnic separatism. Such ethnic conflicts will be deepened and unable to recover for generations under this regime.
In regard to territory overseas, we should treat conflict rationally. Under an overall premise of equality, mutual benefit, fairness and democracy, negotiated to settlements of issues will ensure border peace. That is because only in a peaceful environment can the Chinese economy and its economic exchange abroad have a secured development. But the Chinese government uses the same kind of tactics to fool the people, to set up enemies in the minds of the Chinese people, thus to guide their anger abroad.
Without democracy and human rights in China and neighbouring countries, it is impossible to peacefully resolve border disputes between the countries, and may even lead to war. Ordinary Chinese will serve as cannon fodder of the Chinese ruling clique and die innocently. Take an example. Once from 1950 to the 1970's, China provided huge aid to Vietnam, even sent Chinese soldiers to become cannon fodder for the Communist Vietnamese authoritarian clique. Yet in 1979, the Chinese government provoked a Sino-Vietnamese war and forced Chinese soldiers to become cannon fodder at the China-Vietnam border. Then shortly after, the Chinese government and the Vietnamese Communist governments were toasting each other to celebrate the friendship between the two Communist Parties, as if nothing had happened.
Therefore, the participants of this current working meeting of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition and "China Road" international seminar agreed that: We fully understand the patriotic feelings of the Chinese people, but are absolutely against the Chinese government that is trying to lead the Chinese down the narrow road of Nazi style nationalism, as a way to divert domestic social conflicts in China. The purpose of the Communist government is to maintain its regime and safeguard the illegal interests of its interest groups. Only by promoting democracy and human rights in China, will there be a possibility to effectively mitigate and resolve ethnic conflicts and territory disputes with neighbouring countries, to avoid the war and bloodshed due to these conflicts and territorial disputes; to have peaceful coexistence between the ethnic groups within China, as well as neighbouring countries; and to promote peace and stable economic development in China and Asia.
22/07/2011