Liu Xiaobo is a 54-year-old Chinese literary critic, professor and human rights activist who called for human rights protection and democratic reform in China. Recently, he has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to human rights. However, he was not able to attend the authoritative awarding ceremony because he is currently serving his 11-year imprisonment. He was arrested in 2008 on charge of inciting subversion of state power. Mr. Liu co-authored Charter 08, an announcement demanding Chinese government to reform its system into a democratic one and guarantee freedom of speech and free-elections.
China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. Its president is elected within the party not by their people. Taking these facts into consideration, political freedom is strickly restricted. In contrast, economic and social controls have been greatly relaxed in China since the 1970s. China's economy is based on free market which means that private companies and housholds have a freedom in making a economic choice. However, even in the market the Chinese government does not guarantee full meaning of freedom when it comes to their national interest especially that is related to democracy and human rights. The dispute over Chinese government's censorship between the U.S. company, Google, and China is an good example. Any company can get into China's market but must follow China's law. This rule counts for every countries but it has become an issue in China because most of the foreign companies are from democratic state.
Communist Party of China (CPC) does not want to lose its power that enabels to control the people. Even though China has adopted its current constitution in1982, it seems that they still have an anachronical concept of ruling people of its former Kingdom. The Constitution states that it guarantees the "fundamental rights" of citizens. However, these provisions do not afford significant protection in practice against criminal prosecution by the State. In addition, some provisions such as provision 105 of the Chinese criminal code are intentiously misinterpreted by the court. The provision 105 hans inciting subversion of state power. Since there are no further details of the provision it is likely to be used to judge political dissidents guilty. The judiciary of China has delivered Mr. Liu an 11-year sentence on charges of violating the provision 105. A spokesperson for the court said that Mr. Liu had written messages, which incited people to resist CPC on the Internt and recommed people to sign in support. He also said that leading the anouncement of Charter 08 was a violation to the law.
Chinese government's infringement upon human rights is not restricted to political issues. The constitution includes provisions which state freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, it seems that the concept of 'freedom' ,which is stated in the constitution, is different from the general notion. The government censor every articles of the press and even e-mails or messages posted on the Internet of netizens who are on the government's blacklist. Religious groups must be registered with the government in order to do religious activities in China. Even the number of children, which families can have, is also restricted by the government, known as 'One-Child Policy'.
In the absence of democracy, how do Chinese citizens convey their frustrations to the government? Are Chinese citizens satisfied with their suppressing government? As China's economy is enjoying its boom, people with their increased income will demand more than economic gain. Being nervous with this situation, recently China has intensified its censorship and also is putting a great amount of times and efforts to develop an effective firewall to block the inflows of democracy. However, this will only trigger Chinese citizens' zeal for democracy. Guobin Yang, an associate professor in Columbia University, reported in his book < The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online> that Internet will power the democratic movement among the Chinese citizens.
China has nearly 400 million netizens which is the largest in any other nation. Even though the government is trying to filter information, which is discontent to their government, vast amount of information flowing into China and ways to circumvent state controls will make its effort meaningless. With the technology, Chinese citizens' long for democracy will grow to the extent that the Chinese government cannot control.
In order to win the title 'World Power', the Chinese government should solve its issues which are being met with opposition from other countries and also from its own citizens. Since democracy is regarded as an universal political system around the world, policies of the China ,whether it is a domestic one or a foreign one, sould be implemented in a democratic way; otherwise, the rest of the countries will not join hands with China. Therefore, it is time for China to accept and guarantee the natural demand of its people and come up with measures to find the middle point that guarantees the fundamental human rights in China and the sustainability of its ruling party.
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