【中文标题】《经济学家》的读者来信——“中国的镇压行动”
【原文标题】Letters On China
【登载媒体】经济学家
【原文链接】http://www.economist.com/node/18648715?story_id=18648715
先生，你在艾未未事件上对中国的批评是没有依据的，是对我国司法体制的无礼，是在试图干涉我国内部事务（“中国的镇压行动”，4月16日）。艾先生是一位艺术家，他曾经通过推特和西方记者的采访来发表自己的观点，也曾到国外举办展览，这些行为都没有受到限制。目前，艾先生正因疑似经济犯罪而受到调查。案件与人权和言论自由无关，而是涉及法律是否能够得到尊重的问题。
中国是一个法制国家，不是一言堂，更不是少数人统治多数人的国家。中国在过去三十年的改革中收获甚多，不仅仅成为了世界第二大经济体；提高了人民的生活水平，而且还赋予人民更多的自有。一些西方人断言中国只希望在经济领域改革，不想在政治领域改革，这无论从理论上还是从实践上讲，都是错误的。
我们在加强民主和法制方面取得了进步，人民代表大会制度和共产党领导下的多党协商合作制度起到了重要的作用。党内民主决策机制得到了加深，领导职位终身制已经被废除。
中国人民的自由和权力受法律保护。中国人民享有流动和改变居住地的自由、选择工作和移居海外的自由。他们可以通过各种渠道表达自己的观点：中国有4.5亿网民和超过1亿的宗教信仰者。一个国家发展的道路取决于它所处的环境和它的人民的意志。中国的发展状况很好，在面对各种挑战的情况下会继续发展下去。为中国制造不稳定因素的企图不会得到中国人民的支持。
中国与西方在民主和人权方面的差异，应当通过建立在平等和互相尊重基础上的对话来解决。攻击中国的人要问问自己，究竟是谁在镇压别人，谁在制造冲突和对抗。
戴庆利
中国大使馆
伦敦
附：“中国的镇压行动”译文：
【中文标题】中国残暴的新统治者的镇压行动
【原文标题】China's repressive new rulers China's crackdown
【登载媒体】经济学家
【原文链接】http://www.economist.com/node/18560351?story_id=18560351
中国统治者的报复行动暴露了他们胆怯的内心。
中国的镇压行动也和其它事情一样，在经历着周期性起伏。每隔一段时间，这个国家的领导人就会放松一下严厉无情铁腕，稍微允许那么一点点政治自由。
更加自由的媒体批判权力装点了党的可信度，口头讲讲法律和诉讼制度就可以赢得海外的掌声，从而促进本土的经济。于是，融融的气氛就会持续一段时间，好像是“北京的春天”。当然，随之而来的必然是一股寒气。但是最近一段时间，每个周期里的春天似乎更加暖和，寒气也不那么刺骨了。当这个国家开始自由化进程的时候，西方人都以此来证明与中国做生意的益处——经济更加开放必然导致其它方面也更加开放。
最近的一股寒气似乎让以上想法遭到了质疑。首先是镇压行动的规模。中国最著名的艺术家和不同政见者艾未未，于4月3日在北京机场被捕，他是这次镇压行动中最著名的一个牺牲品。网络上对“花花革命”的呼吁让大量武装警察和便衣暴徒从天而降，他们在公共场合阻止人们“散步”形式的抗议行为。
宝贝，外边冷。
在刚刚开始的行动中，数十人已经被捕，并且面临刑事起诉。其它人遭到了多种形式的骚扰，包括殴打和软禁。但是凛冽的寒气并未止歇。自从2月份开始，中国一些顶级的辩护律师纷纷消失，为争取村民权力和环境问题的活动人士遭到镇压，博客写手被围捕。一家大型地下（即非政府认可的）教堂的信众因为被禁止待在经常聚会的房子中而在户外做礼拜，却遭到逮捕。
第二个需要质疑的原因是镇压行动的周期。现在看来，整个行动开始于2008年的西藏暴乱，这个事件激起了强烈的反应。之后的两件事情——08年的北京奥运会和2010年的上海世博会——对崛起的中国来说，似乎是它初次在社交聚会中露面。这个国家有机会向世界展示它充满信心的表情。但是，这两个盛会成功的背后，都存在着粗暴对待那些似乎会让政府陷入尴尬的人的现象。数万名无辜的农民工被迫离开北京，因为他们降低了这个城市的格调；仗义执言的活动人士被藏到无法发现的角落。
甚至自然灾害也能引发镇压行动。艾先生第一次与政府发生冲突，就是因为他试图真实描述2008年四川地震中死亡学生的情况，这些学生大部分死于建筑施工行为中的腐败现象。综合考虑其所有表现，包括收紧的网络监控和阻止公众讨论，近期对不同政见行为的镇压无疑是继1989×××××之后最严厉的一次。
对于逐渐回暖观点的第三个质疑是镇压的方式。即使是×××事件之后的镇压行动，也多少有一些用来掩饰的法定诉讼程序。现在，这一套完全被抛弃了。人们毫无缘由地被捕，然后就消失。艾先生被匆匆带走后至今没有音信。暴力行为也是其中的一个特点。艾先生在2009年遭到暴徒殴打后需要做脑部的手术；外国记者遭到袭击的程度自×××事件后从未出现；仅用模糊的“国家安全”理由就进行逮捕。对那些像艾先生一样的“捣乱分子”，政府说：“没有法律可以保护他们。”
西方观察人士普遍认为，镇压行动是对他们所觉察到的威胁的过激反应，但是中国统治者其实心里最明白。事实是，并没有任何激进的势力准备推翻中国政权。但是，在一个幅员辽阔的国家中，从被驱逐出土地的农民，到失业的大学毕业生和愤怒的博客写手等很多愤愤不平的人，都对国家心怀不满。政府完全有能力轻松地一一处理这些矛盾。但是如果这些委屈的各方人士联合起来，尤其是在经济发展放缓的环境下——宜早不宜迟——他们就是一股强大的力量。
所以，北京的观点与外界不同。尽管外界把中国的领导人视为权力无边的超人，但他们自己在每一个角落都发现了威胁的存在。镇压行动的真实原因不是中国领导人的过度自信，而是他们的胆怯心理。他们对威胁的反应其实是对他人的恐吓。
即将到来的政治变化也是其中一个因素。明年将召开一届重要的党代表大会，以现任国家副主席习近平为首的新一届国家领导人将接收加冕。镇压是中国强大的“安全部”这个秘密警察的重要工作，国将无主的感觉让他们摩拳擦掌、跃跃欲试。
中国新一届领导人中很多都出自“太子党”阶层，即从毛泽东时代继承革命资本的贵族家庭。有些人的位置让他们可以在党更加严格地管控经济和社会的情况下攫取更多的利益，而其他一些人利用自己纯粹的意识形态血统来倡导一种“新毛泽东思想”，其中包括对法律的蔑视。这一阶层的力量在党内逐渐壮大，他们积蓄了诸多的怨气，而镇压行动能让他们拔去对手的利齿。中国社会则成了牺牲品。
简单来说，这种混乱的发展局面让经济开放必然导致政治开放这种令人欣慰的观点站不住脚。那么西方就有更多的理由来约束中国的行为。美国和欧盟恰逢其时地谴责逮捕艾先生的行为，当然，如果他们更早地表明立场就更好了。舆论谴责不仅可以限制中国的某些行为，还能让那些在中国勇敢地争取未来的人获得道义上的支持。
原文：
SIR – Your criticisms of China in the Ai Weiwei case were unwarranted, show a disrespect for our judicial sovereignty and are an attempt to interfere with our internal affairs (“China’s crackdown”, April 16th). Mr Ai, an artist, has made his comments before, through Twitter and interviews given to Western journalists, and he has travelled abroad to hold exhibitions. These activities were not restricted. Mr Ai is now under investigation for suspected economic crimes. The case is not a human-rights matter nor is it about freedom of speech, but rather it is a question of whether the rule of law should be upheld.
China is ruled by law, not by man; it is not a case of rule by a few. Over the past 30 years of reform China has achieved a great deal, not just in becoming the second-largest economy and improving the living standards of its people, but also in terms of much greater freedoms. Some people in the West assert that China only wants economic reform and not political reform. This is not true either in theory or in practice.
Progress has been made in building democracy and the rule of law. The people’s congress system and multiparty consultation and co-operation under the Communist Party now play a greater role. Democratic decision-making within the party has been strengthened and lifelong tenure of leadership positions has been abolished.
The rights and freedoms of Chinese citizens are protected by law. Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of movement and migration, free choice of employment and freedom to study overseas. They can express their views through multiple channels: China has 450m internet users and the number of religious believers exceeds 100m. The path of development a country follows depends on the circumstances of that country and should be decided by its people. China’s development has worked well and will continue despite many challenges. The attempt to create instability in China will not be supported by the Chinese people.
The differences between China and the West on democracy and human rights should be addressed through dialogue based on equality and respect. People who attack China should ask themselves just who it is that is cracking down on others, and who is creating confrontation.
Dai Qingli
Chinese Embassy
London
China's repressive new rulers China's crackdown
The vindictiveness of China’s rulers betrays their nervousness
LIKE so much else under Heaven, repression in China has often seemed to go in cycles. Every now and then it has suited the country’s leaders to relax their steely grip on the country and allow a modicum of political liberty.
Freer criticism in the media has helped give the party a veneer of credibility. Lip-service to the law and due process has won plaudits overseas and boosted the economy at home. So a thaw would set in for a while, a “Beijing spring”. A freeze would always follow. But, until lately, in each new cycle the springs were seeming warmer and the freezes not quite so harsh. When the country was starting to liberalise, Westerners justified doing business with China on just such grounds. More economic openness would surely lead to more openness of other kinds.
The latest freeze casts this widespread hope into doubt, for three reasons. The first is the scale of the crackdown. Ai Weiwei, China’s best-known artist and dissident, who was detained at Beijing airport on April 3rd, is only the most notable figure to be caught by it. Calls on the internet for a “jasmine revolution” have prompted armed police and plain-clothes goons to descend in huge numbers on public places to stop people from “strolling”, as a veiled form of protest.
Baby, it’s cold outside
Dozens have been detained and now face criminal charges in relation to these inchoate calls. Others have faced different kinds of harassment, including beatings and house arrest. But the freeze runs deeper. Since February some of the country’s top defence lawyers have vanished. Activists for villagers’ rights and the environment have faced repression. Bloggers have been rounded up. Members of a big underground (ie, non-state) church in Beijing, stopped from meeting in their usual building, were arrested as they tried to worship outside.
A second reason for doubt is the duration of the crackdown. With hindsight, it began after Tibetan riots in 2008 drew a harsh response. Since then, two events, the Beijing Olympics later that year and the Shanghai World Expo of 2010, might have served as coming-out parties for a rising China. They offered the regime the chance to show the world a more confident face. Yet both were accompanied by harsh treatment of anyone deemed likely to embarrass the government. Tens of thousands of unwashed migrant workers were forced out of Beijing for lowering the tone. Outspoken activists were kept out of sight.
Even natural disasters have triggered repression. Mr Ai’s first serious run-in with the authorities came when he attempted to account for all the schoolchildren killed during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, many as a result of corrupt building practices. Taking in all its manifestations, which include tightened internet censorship and a stifling of public debate, the latest crackdown on political dissent certainly constitutes the worst since Tiananmen Square in 1989 and its aftermath.
A third reason to doubt the notion of gradual warming lies in the method of repression. Even the post-Tiananmen crackdown had a semblance of due process. Now such pretence is out of the window. People are picked up under arbitrary detention rules and then made to disappear. Mr Ai has not been heard of since being bundled away. Violence is part of the mix. Mr Ai needed brain surgery in 2009 after being beaten up by goons. Foreign journalists are being harassed on a scale unseen since Tiananmen Square. Vaguely defined “state security” is used as a reason to round people up. For perceived “troublemakers” such as Mr Ai, the government says, “no law can protect them.”
Western observers tend to describe the crackdown as a massive overreaction to perceived threats, but it may well be that China’s rulers know better. True, no seething mass stands ready to overthrow the regime. But in a vast country, many aggrieved people, from dispossessed villagers through unemployed graduates to angry bloggers, resent the state. The government is quite capable of handling each of these groups separately. But were those with grievances ever to coalesce, especially if the growth slows—as it will sooner rather than later (see article)—they would represent a potent force.
The view from Beijing, thus, is different to the view from abroad. Whereas the outside world regards China’s rulers as all-powerful, the rulers themselves detect threats at every turn. The roots of this repression lie not in the leaders’ overweening confidence but in their nervousness. Their response to threats is to threaten others.
Imminent political change may also play a part. Next year a crucial party congress will anoint a new generation of leaders, led by Xi Jinping, now the country’s vice-president, to take over the running of the country. Repression is the job of China’s powerful “security state”—the regular and secret police. Sensing rudderlessness at the top, it may be particularly inclined to flex its muscles now.
The fear of hanging separately
Many of China’s new leaders come from the “princeling” class, an aristocracy of families with revolutionary credentials from the days of Mao Zedong (see article). Some have lucrative positions which give them a financial interest in tighter party control over both the economy and society. Others use their ideological pedigrees to advocate a neo-Maoist approach, which includes scant regard for the law. There is plenty of resentment within the system at the growing power of this aristocracy, and repression can be used to defang opposition. A nastier China is the result.
In the short term at least, these troubling developments undermine the comforting idea that economic openness necessarily leads to the political sort. All the more reason, then, for the West to hold China to account. America and the European Union are right strongly to condemn Mr Ai’s detention, though it would have been better had they taken a stand sooner. Speaking out might just help constrain the regime’s behaviour. It will certainly give succour to those in China working bravely to create a better future.
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发表于 2011-5-11 17:05
