Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Chen Guangcheng's Leave

Chinese netizens are once again missing the mark in directing their anger, this time falling into line with the Communist Party's call for the US to apologize for the Chen Guangcheng affair. One Weibo post taken from BBC News' article read, "The US has never paused its attempt to contain China and destabilise China!" But I was under the belief that Chen went to the US embassy on his own volition? Why should the US authorities apologize? For not handing him over?

Once again it's another example of Chinese netizens completely missing the mark. Instead of voicing outrage over Chen's decision to leave because Communist authorities were rounding up his friends and family and threatened him for their safety, or more broadly for the lack of political dissent allowed in China, netizens are directing their anger at the US for "butting" into China's affairs once again.

But level-headed voices prevailed, with Li Kaisheng, a professor at Xiangtan University in Hunan, microblogging, "When a blind man has been subjected to long-term illegal detention and has had to turn to a foreign embassy for protection, our foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin turns a blind eye to the facts and asserts that 'China is a country under the rule of law, and its citizens' legitimate rights and interests are protected by the constitution and its laws'."

Other messages of note from the BBC article:
"They always blame other countries for interfering with China's internal affairs. But why don't they ever consider why the people have lost confidence in China's own judiciary and would rather trust a foreign embassy?!" ("Milktea")

"The US should not interfere with the CCP's tyranny," ("Expecting Dawn")

"This is the CCP's turf. All people living here are slaves to the CCP and must unconditionally accept the CCP's violent rule."

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