Photo: The letter calls for the immediate release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo Reuters Chinese Premier's Calls For Reform Spark Excitement, Skepticism -- L.A. Times
More than 100 members of a Communist Party committee released a petition Friday backing Wen Jiabao's promises of political reform. Wen's critics say his kinder, gentler image and platform are all smoke and mirrors.
Reporting from Beijing — Soft-spoken, bespectacled and so benign that his nickname is "Grandpa," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has emerged in recent weeks as the lone champion within the top ranks of the Communist Party for political reform.
Read more ....
More News On Reform In China And The Upcoming Central Committee Meeting
Party meeting begins in Beijing amid increasing dissent over human rights -- Washington Post
China’s Communist Party Prepares for a Showdown -- Wall Street Journal
Can Wen Jiabao reform the Communist Party of China? -- Christian Science Monitor
China leaders face increased pressure for freedom of speech -- The Telegraph
China Dissidents Call for Reform -- Wall Street Journal
Chinese Elders Blast Censorship -- Wall Street Journal
Chinese veteran politicians call for reform -- BBC
Chinese Communist party veterans defy censors with call for free speech -- The Guardian
China to address economic imbalance -- BBC
China's leaders meet to plan economic future -- BBC
China's Communist Party Elite Meet to Discuss Leadership Changes, Poverty -- Bloomberg
China's Communists meet amid reform calls -- AFP
Q&A: China party conference -- BBC
My Comment: The day that China institutes true democratic reforms .... and it does not break apart because of it .... that is a day that I will say that China has become a country that should be treated (and respected) as a super power.
For now .... they are talking about it. A scenario that (honestly) I never thought would happen in my lifetime.
2 comments:
Really? I expected it since the economic reforms didn't get squashed, what, 20 years ago now? Look at Korea, and Taiwan, and Central America: free markets tend to eventually lead to demands for more freedom, and the elites that get rich off the markets don't want to kill them, so they eventually grant small freedoms. These grow into large freedoms, and eventually, you get a free market representatively governed nation. Realistically, if China doesn't destroy its free markets within the next ten years or so, China will be forced to open up politically. By its own people.
Thank you Jeff for your comment.
Long time readers of this blog know that I have been a frequent visitor to China since the mid 1980s. I had the opportunity to get to know a number of Chinese officials at the time .... who (today) are now senior leaders on both the Federal and Provincial level.
Before the Tienanmen massacre in 1989, I was in China and I was caught up with the excitement of what was happening in the country. I came back to Canada with a Chinese delegation in April of 1989 (6 weeks before the massacre), and had the opportunity to talk to them about the changes in their country.
They were all universally worried over what was happening. They .... even at that time .... understood the importance of developing a semi-capitalist system, but what petrified them was that the country could easily split apart into different ethnic/nationalistic entities if too much freedom was given .... an outcome that happened to the Soviet Union a few years later.
When the tanks were finally put onto the streets to stop the protest movement .... I noticed that my Chinese contacts were not surprised.
21 years later, the same sentiments and the need to reform are now making themselves felt in China, and the same worries and concerns that were expressed in 1989 are being expressed today. I am experiencing deja-vu again, and I can only hope that I will not be a witness to a repeat of history.
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