【华尔街时报】 Can Economic Sanctions Drive Democratic Change in China?

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Can Economic Sanctions Drive Democratic Change in China?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124772040277049653.html


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Raghuvir Dass: Cut Trade, Force Change

[Raghuvir Dass is a 2nd year History Student at Delhi University. He enjoys reading a wide variety of fiction and spends most of his time watching movies and playing scrabble on the internet.]

China is an authoritarian regime which violently suppresses any and all forms of political dissent. It affords virtually no rights to its citizens, working conditions are considered slave-like in nature and peaceful demands for rights such as the right to religion, movement and the freedom of association or expression result in disappearances, detentions and harassment. The use of torture is widespread and accepted by the Chinese state.

Raghuvir Dass




The first question is why should we care? After all, the computer I'm typing this on was made in China; the iPod I will listen to after I am finished was made in China. The fact that I can afford all of this is due to cheap Chinese labor, many of whom are prisoners forced into work and the rest who are exploited by relaxed and unenforced labor laws.

This matters because everything from the food I eat to the electronics I use, to the new tiles being bought for my bathroom, whenever I consume something, I am benefiting a government which uses slave labor and torture, and provides no due process to any of its citizens. I am in my own tiny, insignificant way perpetuating a system of brutality, suppression and pain. This is why it matters and this is why the proposal of using economic sanctions to make an effective protest seems the only way to get the message across. The few miserable bans on the trade of weapons by the U.S. and Europe is an absolutely failed response, having had no effect whatsoever.

Let's assume for a moment that the major powers of the world create a common policy, that they unite together and in unison stop all trade with China. China's economic strength depends in large part on exports, 40% of their GDP comes from exporting goods to other countries (this statistic is disputed by Chinese organizations.) Without access to a big share of the world market their economy reels and growth slows. There are two possible outcomes. First, they cave in and introduce certain reforms and we wait and see if they hold to them. Second, they refuse to comply and the increasing unemployment generates tensions and unrest leading to protest which again forces China to give its people access to human rights.

The question is: Are nations around the world willing to harm their own economic growth in order to bring about a change in the policies of the Chinese government? Probably not. The truth is governments are scared of offending one of the growing powers of the world when they can reap the benefits of a plum trade agreement. In reality the chance of change occurring is highly unlikely. The EU feels that the key issues are now the rule of law and political representation. They're unsurprisingly silent. With China as their biggest trade partner it would be impossible to admit that, "We should be doing something but...well, it's a bit difficult to do anything at all"

Would it be difficult? Yes.

Is there any other way? There is currently a ban on arms trading with China and a general belief that democratization will naturally set in with access to Western culture through movies and the Internet. This won't work as the flow of information is tightly controlled by the Chinese government. So much as accessing a forbidden website is grounds for punishment.
The last solution left is to cut off the trade which supports China. Our economies would be hurt yes, but surely it is wrong to give greater importance to our conveniences over the blatant trampling of the human rights of others.

Mihir Chattopadhyay: Sanctions Hurt Only the People

This is a question that has started to do the rounds recently primarily because of the bloody conflict in the Xinjiang province of north-western China. The conflict is between the Uighurs (ethnic Turkic-Muslims native to the region) and the Han Chinese. At the root of the problem is the fact that the Uighurs believe that the massive Han immigration (something that is promoted by the Chinese government) poses a real threat to their land, traditions and religion. They believe that economic development has helped the Han Chinese of the region far more than it has them and that they are inherently treated like second-class citizens. On the flip-side, some of the Han Chinese believe the Uighurs to be ungrateful, backward and pampered by preferential policies of the state, like being allowed to have more children.

This conflict has once again put the spotlight on China's handling (or mishandling) of its minorities and many in the press have drawn parallels with the unrest in Lhasa last year. That in turn has prompted many to look at China's attitude towards human rights.

Undoubtedly China doesn't have the best track record when it comes to human rights. Even in the handling of the current situation, the fact that the Chinese government has heavily curtailed to use of the internet within China (Twitter and Facebook have been banned in certain areas) counts as a violation of human rights as it impinges on freedom of speech and expression. However, I don't think that the world community can impose economic sanctions on China in order to make it improve the human rights situation within its borders.

History teaches us that economic sanctions rarely manage to stop human rights violations or even garner adherence to any political or military demands, even if the sanctions are upheld for a long period of time. For example, the sanctions imposed on Myanmar didn't make headway in the process of democratization or increased respect for human rights.

Furthermore, with economic sanctions, damage to the economy and the civilian population is necessary. Sanctions are intended to directly damage the economy (and hence the people) and therefore generate either political pressure or a civilian uprising. This is supposed to (indirectly) influence the leadership into giving way to the demands put forward. Sanctions are actually considered unsuccessful if the lives of the people are not sufficiently disrupted. Therefore sanctions tend to intrinsically go against their guiding principle of "hit the regime rather than the people."
Therefore the question of economic sanctions goes out the window. This, however, raises another question: What is the world supposed to do?

With regard to China I feel that the world has to take a stance similar to the one it took when the atrocities in Tibet were taking place last year. The press and the media in general can be a very powerful tool. This coupled with public condemnation by various governments of any human rights violation taking place in China will help. I say this because the feeling I get is that China is really trying to change the way the world looks at it. It's trying desperately to fit into the shoes of a super-power that the world respects. The effects of last year's Tibet debacle can already be seen. The Chinese government has allowed the foreign media access into Urumqi to cover the riots. It has, on the whole, handled this situation with far more tact than it did the Tibet situation.

Even though it seems passive - condemnation and bad press seem the best way to deal with an emerging China.

merle

看了开头就知道这个印度学生是被西方民主模式洗了脑的， 照本宣科， 没有独立思维的， 为了做学问而做学问的书呆子。 印度人民不能指望这样的知识分子。
接着看就这道此君的头脑里充满了恶意和谎言。号召世界把中国搞臭。打击中国。
在接着想， 就知道这是美国人借刀杀人。 华尔街报的美国人在这幕剧中扮演的角色比这个印度学生还要小人。不屑一顾， 不值一提。
别上了他们当。 让他们意淫去吧。 把我们自己的事做好， 把中国工人农民的工作条件和生活水平提高上去， 在团结西方内部同我们有共同语言的人， 我们不用正面的理会这些小人， 这样知会抬高了他们。 但是要通过其他途径让西方民众知道真相。 要在西方内部拥有中国人和亲中国的媒体。

medien

这个学生能对中国了解多少？

华尔街日报已经堕落成这样了！

welovechina2009

印度根本就不存在民主,有多少穷人生活在贫民窟里,他们的政府却到处买武器来对付中国

静水伊涟

认领