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It’s Democracy, Stupid! |
Ðằng Vân
Point of View
In the last few days, the free world has witnessed the barbarous repression of the peaceful people of Tibet by Communist China, a mere five months before the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
To the impartial observer, this is no surprise as various Chinese emperors since ancient times have treated Tibet with the same severity and contempt. They also regarded other nations of East Asia as their backyard and extracted from them either territorial concessions or annual tributes in gold, silver, elephant tusks, ginseng, pearls, virgin maidens and other valuables.
Since the advent of the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in Britain which happened to transform not only this small nation, but other nations of the entire European continent and America into industrial and colonial superpowers, the Chinese empire had receded into the giant sick man of Asia. The so-called Middle Kingdom, for almost a century, had become the prey to various colonial masters, including the Japanese whom they used to regard with disdain as the dwarfs of the Eastern Sea.
While, the lack of vision by various emperors of the Qing Manchu dynasty and the political dogmatism of Mao-Tse-Tung continued to dog Chinese economic development, other nations of East Asia had awakened, learnt the lessons the Japanese had learnt, modernized their economies and democratized their political institutions. After a few decades, they are now on par with other developed nations of the world. South Korea, Taiwan and of course Japan are no longer the backyard of the Middle Kingdom because their economies are stronger, their armies are modernized and they no longer pay annual tributes.
That is with the exceptions of North Korea and Vietnam. Although the Middle Kingdom has not been able to absorb the territories of these two nations into its own, its influence over them is overwhelming. Vietnam is going to feel the heat even stronger than North Korea because of the resource-rich area of the South China Sea and the equally resource-rich Paracel and Spratley Archipelagos. Both the communist regimes in Vietnam and North Korea are naïve in their belief that their ideological big brother would go out of its way to help them preserve dictatorial rules over their respective peoples, and that their relationship is ever one where “if one’s lips are open, one’s teeth will feel the cold”, in the joint words of Ho Chi Minh and Mao-Tse-Tung when they were alive.
The recent Chinese administrative annexation of the above two archipelagos, which Vietnam has regarded as its territories for centuries, is a rude awakening for the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), despite the fact that the CPV is still in denial mode.
But western observers fail to understand the fact that the Communist Party of China (CCP) is vastly different from, and more evil than, the ancient emperors of old.
These emperors might be happy with tributes of virgin maidens and gold. They might, at most, station a resident governor in Tibet and otherwise very much leave the Tibetans to rule over themselves. Modern mandarins of the CCP desire much more. They want no less than the total elimination of Tibetans as a race, Buddhist Lamaism as a religion and the Tibetan way of life as a culture. They also want total control over land and natural resources; plunder the environment to line the pockets of senior mandarins. They want to fill Tibet with Chinese migrants so as to outnumber the natives, take over their country and reduce them to a minority and eventually to nothingness.
Why such ruthlessness?
Not because they are Chinese patriots, despite the fact that they have been successful in persuading other credulous Chinese to this line of thinking, but because they are a pitiless breed of dictators determined to stay in power for eternity, without ever having to face their people in free and fair elections.
Tibet with a population of a few million among 1.3 billion Chinese should never be a creditable threat to China as a nation.
But here is the catch: if they allow Tibet to have their autonomy, even within Chinese sovereignty, the respect of the Dalai Lama by the international community and especially by the Chinese people may lead to a gradual reduction in the influence and power of the CCP. Tolerance of Tibet will be not only tolerance of an ethnic minority, but religious and moral tolerance incompatible with dictatorship.
Thus it is now time, again, to paraphrase former US President Bill Clinton when he uttered those memorable words at election time: It’s the economy, stupid.
To understand the psychology of CCP leaders, and indeed to resolve the dilemma for China and for all other East Asian nations under Chinese sphere of influence, let’s remind ourselves: It’s democracy, stupid.
Indeed, the world should stand up to China now, boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics, demand greater human rights and democratic reforms inside China. With democracy and greater access to information, the CCP will be less able to whip up nationalist fundamentalism within its populace. Thus the lovely people of Tibet would have a better chance. A democratic China would open the way for the more mediocre communist dictators in Vietnam and North Korea to speed up reforms in their respective nations.
A free, democratic and economically advanced East Asia will do much to contribute to enduring world peace and prosperity.
Indeed, it’s democracy, stupid.
Ðằng Vân
23 March 2008