Editorials

Op-Ed Contributors

Chinese Press

Columnists

LETTERS

Why so nervous?

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-13 07:45

It would be unfair to say, as some Chinese critics seem to suggest, that whole of Australia is suddenly into an anti-China campaign, by awarding some Xinjiang separatists a public platform after they masterminded a riot in Urumqi, capital city of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in early July. The riot saw the worst violence in that part of China in the last 60 years, although it lasted for just a couple of days, and order and peace have now been restored.

It would also be unnecessary, as reflected in opinion in some local media, to paint a Chinese diplomat's attempt to brief them about the realities in Urumqi as one to censor the Australian press. Diplomats talk. It is an established practice that government officials and diplomats explain a government's point of view to their audience wherever they travel.

When the Chinese-speaking Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd visited China, he also brought with him criticism of this country. And, of course, for all the criticisms he made, he also did provide an explanation to us that he is by no means a Cold War warrior and China hater. The curious thing is that, from the often allegedly nationalistic Chinese press - and the Chinese Internet - not a single soul accused him of trying to influence China, although one may say that was exactly what he was doing, and on purpose. No one asked him to pull his head in.

All people claim to be true to their values and do not want to miss a chance to showcase those values. They are particularly sympathetic to disadvantaged and impoverished human beings. These are all respectable practices. But, we are not usually so confident as to turn a deaf ear to reports about the reality. There have been plenty of reports in the global press about what the Xinjiang separatists did, and one Chinese diplomat cannot be so versatile as to invent them all.

Two points are quite enough to show who they are: Those individuals are not impoverished. They made a fortune from China's economic liberalization, much more than the average people in Xinjiang, whatever their ethnic background, only to turn their back against their country.

Nor are those individuals oppressed, by no means. They are darlings of some quite powerful forces in the world - and even more so after the Urumqi riot left close to 200 dead bodies on the streets. And, dead bodies do not lie. Private shop owners, street vendors, and pedestrians, they were singled out and targeted in cold blood; one by one, family by family, not for being even close to a political force or a government, not for holding a weapon, and not even for saying any rude words; but, for just belonging to an allegedly repressive population. Can you believe that?

So what we are talking about here is violence. One may claim to have a right, if he chooses to turn a blind eye to the loss of other human beings. But hasn't he stretched his sense of right, or self-righteousness, a bit too far by decrying other people's rights to just remind him of the reality?

(China Daily 08/13/2009 page8)