On China's rise

By Deauwand Myers

I rarely comment on other writers' columns in The Korea Times. In fact, I have only done it once in the near decade of writing as a featured columnist at the paper. As before, I am aghast at the immorality of this particular column, and I felt duty-bound to rebut it.

Professor Keyu Jin, of the prestigious London School of Economics, penned an opinion piece titled "China's 70 years of progress." (Her piece, provided by the Project Syndicate, was published in the Oct. 3 edition of The Korea Times.)

There's almost too much for me to contend with in this article, but I will try my best.

Jin writes, "The first 30 years of rule by the Communist Party of China (CPC) are judged harshly, owing to the disastrous Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution." It should be judged harshly, as more people died from starvation and proscription during this period in China than in the Holocaust.

What professor Jin employs in her article more than anything else is the sin of omission. Not once, in an article about the economic and geopolitical rise of China, does she discuss human rights violations of the CPC, not least of which was the massacre at Tiananmen Square, in which thousands of democratic protestors were slaughtered in plain view for the world to see.

She goes on, "Today, China's to-do list remains long, but its leaders are working consistently to check off agenda items, from reducing inequality and reversing environmental degradation to restructuring the economy. If they are to succeed ― thereby solidifying China's development model as a viable alternative to Western-style liberal democracy ― they will need to deliver on two key imperatives in the coming years."

Yes, China's leaders' to-do list is rather extensive, but much of it is sinister. She never once mentions the forced imprisonment of at least a million Uyghurs, China's largest Muslim minority population, nor the forced orphaning of millions of their children.

Both they and their progeny are sent to re-education camps, indoctrination facilities meant to bend their minds to the will of the state. If this kind of "progress" on China's leaders' to-do least is what professor Jin considers positive for the human condition, she needs to go back and read more about World War II.

Let's explore this particular quote, "… solidifying China's development model as a viable alternative to Western-style liberal democracy."

First, who would want such a thing? Western-style liberal democracy has its problems, but it's the best system of governance humanity has ever created, and in the long-term, provides the most security, compassion, and a check on governmental power from gross abuses than any other. This is as obvious as the sky being blue, and she exposes her pro-authoritarian disposition in such a wild proclamation.

Jin writes, "But the onus is not entirely on China; Western leaders also must be receptive to the country's efforts. China has long promised the world a "peaceful rise." This, of all her column, is probably the most breathtaking in its naked propaganda. I'm sorry, China is not a child.

The West does not have to coddle and cradle it like some newborn. China, besides its disappearing of political dissidents, mass incarceration without due process, its judicial system controlled by the Party, summary executions, imprisonment of perceived political threats, repression of all political and intellectual thought deemed problematic to the Party, and censoring free thought on any subject, has committed numerous acts of corporate and governmental espionage and forced intellectual property transferals to even do business in China.

China's rise has been anything but peaceful, an assertion Jin makes. Claiming all of the South China Sea and building military outposts therein is not peaceful. Kidnapping Hong Kongers who sell books critical of the regime is not peaceful. Beginning a massive military modernization and creating an ever-larger nuclear arsenal, all under an opaque regime the outside world cannot view, is not peaceful.

Jin writes, "Yet much of the West, as well as Asia, continues to assume the worst about China ― a habit of mind that could have catastrophic consequences … To avoid falling into the trap of war, Western political and intellectual leaders must not blindly believe those who assume that confrontation with an ascendant China is inevitable." People perceive the worst about China because its behavior demands such a perception.

If professor Jin wants a job in the Chinese government, she ought to apply for one. But to pass this column off as an objective piece of writing, attendant to the historical and current facts of China, is intellectually dishonest and morally repugnant.

A world order under American and European powers has not been good or kind, in many respects. That's a valid argument. But to act as if we'd better under the tender care of President Xi Jinping and an ascendant China is ludicrous. China's rise ought to be seen as most see it: frightening.

Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.