Chinese Hero – part 1
Timesonline today runs an article about Yang Chunlin, an unemployed factory worker who exercised his right to petition the government on behalf of farmers who have had their land swiped by local authorities. He was protesting that the Olympics ought not to be the government’s priority in light of so many injustices. One would have thought that such an act of goodwill would bring praise from the party who came to power on the back of a peasant insurgency. After all, it is the People’s Republic of China; right? Apparently not:
China has sentenced a man to five years in prison for protesting against the Beijing Olympics. The sentence was passed only a month after the Foreign Minister of China told David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, that police would offer a cup of tea to any Chinese protesting against the Olympics.
That ‘cup of tea’ offer sounded a bit hollow, if not sinister, at the time. Another remark made by Yang Jiechi, China’s Foreign Minister, during Miliband’s visit can only be regarded as a lie:
“No one will get arrested because he said that human rights are more important than the Olympics. This is impossible.”
Beijing’s capacity for making the ‘impossible’ possible is truly amazing. Five years in jail for a legitimate protest on behalf of the nation’s backbone! That’s one year for every millennium of civilization in this part of the world.
Of course we can’t forget another of China’s greatest heroes, Hu Jia, at this time either. I’ll have more to say about his case later. In the meantime, if the Chinese Foreign Minister offers you a cup of tea, run away as fast as you can.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Absolutely agree with you! Not only Chiese Government but also mechanism always like to give dud cheque, make empty promise. They set up our major of TCFL while can’t afford us certificate. What about our future? Now we are pitier than the fly on the glass window whose road is blocked but future is bright. Yet our sky is haze.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:49 am
The media left out some of the details when they originally reported Yang Jiechie’s offer of ‘a cup of tea’ to protesters. The Foreign Minister had said that police would offer a cup of tea only to those protesters who survived their prison sentences.