Demonizing China

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."

Chan added: "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want."

There is a lot of merit to Chan's statements. To fully appreciate his comments one needs to live and work in China without an ideological agenda. The vast majority of those people who complain about China's human rights record have done neither.

The majority of the Chinese people are greatly opposed to outsiders interfering in China's internal affairs. This is very much part of Chinese culture. China's cultural core more resembles ancient China than it does America or modern Europe. Change from things that have worked in the eyes, minds and hearts of the Chinese people does not come easy, if at all. The majority of Chinese people will back their leaders without regard for democratic reforms as demanded by those on the "outside.' As long as the country continues getting stronger, which it undeniably is doing largely without Western influences, but instead learning from the failures of Western societies, calls for human rights reform will be wastes of oxygen, printing ink, paper and Internet bandwidth.

Criticizing and demonizing China has a negative effect on the Chinese people. The known dissidents in China are in an immeasurable minority. They have virtually impact on public policy, and do not have any measurable support from their fellow citizens. Nationalism runs very strong among the Chinese people, and interference from the West and agitating human rights activists outside of the mainland only serves to make the resolve of Beijing and the majority of the Chinese populace stronger.

The West, with its deep hatred of communism, needs to recognize that both technically and theoretically; China is no longer an adherent of either communism or socialism. Instead, China has evolved into a modern version of an imperial dynasty, which it has been able to perfect over the centuries.

Dissidents will continue to be silenced in China for the simple reason that what they are demanding or pushing for is not good for Chinese society. Every society is dysfunctional in different areas; however Chinese society is quite probably the least dysfunctional society in the world. China and the Chinese people can look in at other societies and learn from that observation.

For the Chinese people, the West does not hold the appeal that it believes it does for freedom. Overall, according to a Gallup poll, only 6% of the Chinese population would want to emigrate permanently from China. Their reasons are based upon economic, employment and educational considerations rather than a presumed burning desire for "freedom."

The West, and human right's activists needs to wake up to the fact that not all civilizations; not all countries; and not all people want what the West wishes to impose on them. Democracy and observation of what some consider to be basic human rights is not a panacea.

The 11 year prison sentence for dissident Liu may be considered to be inappropriate by a meddling West. To Beijing and the majority of Chinese people, it is appropriate. Liu has a history of attempting to be a martyr for a cause that he is in the minority of wanting to achieve. Both Beijing and the Chinese people are proving now, more than ever, that they know what is best .for their country.