Remember who he is
Editorial, Globe & Mail, Sep 6, 2005

China's president Hu Jintao visits Ottawa this week, to be greeted with red carpets and warm handshakes. Fair enough. China is an important trading partner and a growing force in the world. It cannot be ignored. But as Mr. Hu enjoys Canadian hospitality, let's at least remember who he is and what he stands for.

For all the changes that have overtaken China over the last decades, it is still a police state and Mr. Hu is chief cop. Chosen by a cabal of Communist Party leaders, elected by no one, he has shown himself to be an authoritarian figure with little time for notions like democratic reform.

Under his rule, which began when he took over leadership of the Communist Party in November 2002 and was consolidated when he became supreme commander of China's armed forces a year ago, the long hoped-for easing of political control has not materialized. To the contrary, Mr. Hu has stepped up the harassment of liberal writers and intellectuals, cracked down on dissidents on the Internet and ordered party officials to undergo strict ideological training. In an unpublished speech last year, he reported condemned "bourgeois liberalization" and "Western hostile forces" -- rhetoric that harkens back to the era of Mao. In one especially troubling case, a researcher for the New York Times was arrested last year on dubious charges of leaking state secrets to the paper. He has been in detention for 11 months, forbidden to see his family and denied a court hearing.

Dazzled by China's economic rise, the world today does not pay much attention to incidents like this. It should. China is the world's most populous country, with growing strength and ambitions to match. As long as it treats its own citizens in an arbitrary fashion, other countries will wonder about its international intentions. So let's welcome Mr. Hu, as we must; but let's not forget the nature of his regime.

Hu avoids anti-Chinese protests ("our leaders are so corrupt they're selling our birthrights to China") & China's Hu Jintao on Africa tour (selling weapons to countries & flooding them with cheap goods threatening local industries) & Mbeki warns on China-Africa ties (replication of Africa's relationship with former colonial powers). Times/BBC, Jan 30, 2007. Go to CHINA PUTS ON AFRICA MASK

Red China's Hu in USA (visiting Boeing production plant, micro-soft Gates, Bush & Yale). CNN, Apr 16, 2006

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