China Continues to Stifle Democracy Movements

China's rulers continue to show their contempt for Hong Kong's democrats. Yesterday's decision to bar popular elections for the island's chief executive in 2007 and deny the expansion of the plebiscite in legislative elections the following year reveals Beijing's fears of its own people's opinions. By ordering that legislative seats filled by rigged elections (what the WSJ [$] compares to the "rotten boroughs" of 18th and 19th-century England) increase in number to keep pace with any expansion of freely elected seats, China is trying to blunt the effects of democracy in action. As the Journal notes, "China's new generation of Communist leaders seem as nervous as their predecessors about even modest moves toward democracy."

This is also obvious in Beijing's almost comic censoring of Vice President Dick Cheney's speech there last week. Maochun Yu of the U.S. Naval Academy writes on the Journal's op-ed page ($) that Cheney's speech was bowdlerized despite promises that it would be broadcast uncensored to the nation. One example, as reported by Prof. Yu:

"'[Cheney said] While democratic processes are sometimes untidy and unpredictable -- as any close observer of American politics can attest -- they permit the peaceful expression of diverse views, protect the rights of the individual, check the ability of the state to abuse its power, and encourage the kind of debate and compromise that leads to lasting stability.' The vice president also said, 'the desire for freedom is universal; it is not unique to one country, or culture, or region.' All deleted by the Chinese censors.'"

China's corrupt and tyrannical regime is right to fear liberty. Few people would freely choose to be governed by a party dedicated to maintaining its hegemony at all costs.