Chinese Communist Party Congress opens, without the people, without freedom
Rome (AsiaNews) - Tomorrow the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opens in Beijing. According to state media, more than 2 thousand representatives will review the results of the last five years and will launch prospects for another five. Some Xinhua commentators even dare to make forecasts right up to 2021, when the CCP will mark100 years, in which China is expected to reach a "greater prosperity", and until 2049, when the Republic of China turns 100 years old, when "a modern, rich, democratic, civilized and harmonious socialist society" will finally be achieved. Even with all these rosy promises, the people of Beijing and other cities in China look with indifference at the event of the Congress, having no say in the matter.
Reforms and factions
For now, the only sure fruit of the meeting will be the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth generation of leaders: the President and Secretary Hu Jintao will pass the baton to Xi Jinping, Premier Wen Jiabao to Li Keqiang. Their names are not the result of open discussions and competitions, or elections, but of back room trades and favours to balance the powers and desires of the various factions within the party: the "reformists", the "princes", the "Shanghai clique", the "Maoists", the army.
All of them, however, are united by a dogma of faith: the monopoly of power must remain in the hands of the Communist Party. For this reason, even a "reformist" such as Hu Deping, son of Hu Yaobang - who has called for greater attention to human rights, a further opening of the economy to give breath to individuals, the independence of the judiciary - does not question the 'absolute leadership of the CCP.
Not to mention the "princelings," the children of the dignitaries of the Party under Mao, whose riches are almost equal to the contempt of the common people towards them, photographed with Ferraris and luxury goods, owners of houses and villas in China and abroad. Just one example: the son of Zeng Qinghong, Yu Zeng, has a villa in Sydney (Australia) worth 32 million dollars. For all of them, the power of the CCP is the guarantee to maintain the privileges accumulated in recent decades. The same can be said of the"Shanghai clique", still dominated by former President Jiang Zemin, who supports the monopoly and privileges of state-owned industries, facilitated in obtaining loans from banks, aid for export, and a lot of mercy when their accounts are red or in cases of injustice towards their workers.
The "Maoists", who demand a politics of greater service to the people, are the least willing to discuss the possibility of political reforms, wanting to maintain Stalinist style. Especially since their most famous coryphaeus, Bo Xilai, was quarantined after sex scandals and revelations about the wealth of his family abroad.
Corruption and poverty
Revelations of endless riches have also targeted outgoing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and future President Xi Jinping. In response, the Party has simply censored all the related news items on the web. The suspicions - and near certainty - of ordinary people is that all these riches are accumulated through corruption: the monopoly of political and economic power allows officials to circumvent the law (when there is one) and becomes an occasion for privileges and favours to give and receive. Some examples: Western companies often have to hand over up to 25% of their income in order to continue production in China, the Ministry of Health asks - almost as if it were a rule - 10% of future earnings to publicise any new pharmaceutical drug in the country.
Yet, one of the results claimed by the Hu-Wen couple is the fight against corruption. Xinhua has boasted of 640 000 cases of corruption in a year. But of these only 24 thousand individuals have been brought to court.
One of the most important reforms was the redistribution of wealth in the country to all the poorest sectors with improvements in welfare and wages. Over the past 10 years, the GDP per capita of the Chinese has risen from 1,135 to 5,432 dollars, but the fact remains that there are pensioners who live with 1300 Yuan per month (about 130 euro) and at least 110 million people are living on less then 1.25 dollars per day, below the poverty line. Besides, there are hundreds of billionaires, all senior members of the party. According to many economic studies, China is the country that has the world record for the largest gap between rich and poor.
It is almost probable that the Congress will suggest some economic reform, providing for increases in salaries and pensions. This comes not from any sense of dignity and justice to the people, but the increasingly urgent need to increase domestic consumption, now that exports to the U.S. and Europe are suffering from the global crisis. Even the one-child policy may be commuted into a "two-child law ", given the migrant labour shortage in the industries of Guangdong and Shanghai, after decades of population control.
An unwritten rule, verified in the history of the party, is that the reforms are carried out only when necessary: this was the case for Deng Xiaoping's modernization (1978), after the human and economic disaster of the Cultural Revolution, and the same for the 'accelerating reforms (1992), after the Tiananmen massacre, the reform of the Constitution on private property (2004), to allow for an increase in foreign investment in the country.
Xinhua highlights the achievements of Hu and Wen: the completion of the Three Gorges Dam Project, the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the Beijing Olympic Games (2008), the Shanghai World Expo (2010), the first Chinese space mission , the spread of Chinese influence in the global economy (G20), in Africa, in the Indian Ocean (against Somali pirates), the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund.
But Hu and Wen have remained deaf to any request for participation from the Chinese people who they claim to serve. It is curious that the Global Times (linked to the People's Daily), has published a survey yesterday that states that 80% of Chinese support the reform policies, with greater control from the public relevant bodies to prevent corruption and folly.
But it is also curious that the Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo is rotting in jail just for having asked for the exact same thing, with one additional element: democracy and the end of the single party rule.
Rights and Religions
For the past few weeks, hundreds of activists and dissidents have been subject to threats, arrests, kidnappings, police checks in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guizhou to ensure that they do not hinderthe work of the Congress. To avoid the distribution of leaflets, taxis in the capital no longer have the handle to open the rear windows and the release of pigeons or model aircraft over the city has been forbidden.
Some CHRD (Chinese Human Rights Defenders) activists state that in the Hu-Wen decade "political repression was more intense, focusing on civil society. The techniques of repression of the government of Hu-Wen have become more sophisticated ... including abductions, enforced disappearances, torture, illegal detention in "black jails", house arrests, forced 'tourism', charges of 'public order disturbances' and 'tax evasion'. " According to CHRD, the future leader Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will maintain the same repressive system of Hu and Wen.
But the problems caused by the rampant capitalism of recent years - injustice, corruption, pollution, expropriation, choking of rights - have become so great that Party's Propaganda no longer counts the riots it has to quell every year. From 8600 in 1993, at the beginning of the acceleration of economic reforms, they now exceed 200 thousand cases per year. It is true that they are unable to become a unified movement, because of government repression and arrests, but now people are becoming more sensitive to their rights because of injustice they are subjected to, they are rediscovering their dignity (including through religious faith), from information that is spread through the web. By not tackling the issue of political reform and freedom of citizens (even religious) they are merely postponing an open conflict for a few years.
The fact that repression is not the solution to problems is evident even in religious matters: for more than 60 years, the CCP has tried to defeat and destroy religion, arresting members, monks, bishops, priests, controlling functions in churches and temples. And now the Party is faced with a society with an unstoppable thirst for God and spiritual values . The problem is that the Chinese Communist Party does not understand the mysteries of man.
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