CHINA

VERON HUNG, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace China Program Associate, May 2, 2002
CZIKOWSKY: What are China’s goals in its relationships with the United States? Overall, do you believe China regards us as a potential ally, as an economic rival, potential military rival, or some combination of each of these?
HUNG: I do not feel it is useful to use a term to summarize the nature of the US-China relations. The two countries have common interests in some areas but differences in others.
The success of Hu’s trip to the U.S. shows that Chinese leaders are very practical. They would like to improve the two countries’ relationship so as to attain some long-term goals. For instance, China wants to develop better relations with the U.S. so as to gain respectability as a potential major world power.
With respect to economy, U.S. investment will continue to be important to China’s economic development. But this is equally important to the U.S. It is predicted that China’s entry into the WTO will open up trade opportunities worth at least U.S. $1.5 trillion in the coming five years. The U.S. does not want to miss these opportunities.
CZIKOWSKY: As China is exposed more to international concepts of democracy and human rights, is there reason to hope that future Chinese leadership, would could include Hu Jintao, will be open to moving China towards improved human rights?
HUNG: In March 1989, after Tibetan monks protested to seek greater freedoms on the 30th anniversary of a failed uprising, Beijing imposed martial law in Lhasa and Hu was responsible for enforcing this rule. Some human rights activists have expressed concerned that Hu will not respect human rights when he becomes the leader of the country.
But the signing of a cooperation agreement between China and the U.N Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights represented China’s significant step towards application for human rights standards in the country. Although the improvement may not appear as quickly as we want, I remain optimistic.
We must understand that there are more and more Chinese who have the will and competence to make changes. But due to political constraints, they cannot be too aggressive.

LEONARD DOWNIE, Washington Post Executive Editor, November 24, 2003
CZIKOWSKY: I am one who believes that trade not only has economic benefits, but cultural ones. China has been relatively isolated and their inclusion in world trade exposes them to ideas that may be adopted culturally and politically that may improve the lives of their citizens. Does Wen Jiabao appear open to allowing new ideas filter into China, or does he seem to wish to keep the Chinese citizens isolated from ideas that might question his governance?
DOWNIE: On the one hand, the Chinese government is allowing much more access to the outside world, via foreign travel, print, the Internet, and television. But, on the other hand, we were told repeatedly of instances in which the Communist Party has violated its own rules on democratic reforms in order to maintain the order of information (by blocking Internet sites, for example) or the political process (by crowding non-party candidates off the ballot in local elections, for example).
CZIKOWSKY: Overall, how would you express Premier Jiabao’s attitude towards the United States? Is he frustrated with us? Did he appear at all hostile? Do you think he understands that nations will have honest disagreements and that over time we can work towards better relations on areas where we do agree? Or, is he ready to renew making Taiwan a major topic of disagreement?
DOWNIE: I think the premier and the Chinese government do understand the American government and are pragmatic about how to get along with it. Taiwan is an important special case for the Chinese, who strongly believe it is a part of China. As our story on Sunday said, they have a real problem on their hands with the independence moves of the Taiwan leadership.

ISABEL SAWHILL, Brookings Institution Vice President, February 2, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: China is the second largest holder of American debt. If the Chinese government, for political or economic reasons, were to retaliate against us, is there anything they could do to the debt they hold that could impact our economy? Aren’t they fairly restricted on the dates and interest rates at which the debt is due?
SAWHILL: If they decide to invest elsewhere, it would put downward pressure on the dollar, cause our imports to cost more, and our standard of living to decline as a result.

TIM DORSETT, University of Chicago International Policy Graduate Student, August 18, 2004
CZIKOWSKY: Would you please explain some of the differences of the Chinese legal system as opposed to the American legal system? Doesn’t the Chinese legal system have a lowered standard for determining guilt?
DORSETT: Yes, the systems are much different. Basically speaking, in China, it is up to the defendant to prove his innocence and the jury is not selected from the public (people outside the Communist Party). Also, in China, there is a huge emphasis on wringing confessions from the accused, something you almost always see in cases where Americans are held by the government in China. To a large degree, this is because confessions are used to justify the government’s action, even when subsequent events show the arrest was unwarranted.

REBECCA MACKINNON, former CNN Beijing Correspondent, February 21, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: What exactly is the Chinese government doing to bloggers? Realizing the Chinese legal system is different from our, have there been any arrests, any trials, and any convictions of bloggers? Are blogger harassed or threatened? Exactly what is the situation, and are there fears the Chinese government may implement a worse crackdown?
MACKINNON: Good question. This depends in part on how you define “blogger”. According to Reporters Without Borders, 49 cyberdissidents and 32 journalists are in prison in China for posting articles and criticism of the authorities on the Internet.
I do not know of a Chinese blogger who has gone to jail, but I know several who have had their blogs shut down. I also know some Chinese bloggers who have received threatening phone calls from police warning them to “be careful”. In some cases they stopped blogging for awhile.
But for the most part, for people who write regularly on blogging software platforms, it’s mainly an issue of censorship, control, and intimidation. Another reason for this is that in order to have a blog in China which other Chinese people can access, you wind up either having to self-censor or subject yourself to censorship by your hosting company. If you set up a blog on your own server and run it yourself, Chinese government regulations now require you to register your site with the government, so they know who you are and know your address. If they don’t like what you’re doing they’ll revoke your license and force your blog off the Internet. Or you can sign up with a commercial blog-hosting servie like MSN Space, Bokee.com or Blogbus.com who all censor their users’ content for politically sensitive material. So your service kind of protects you from yourself, basically. Your third option is to set up a blog that is hosted by Chinese censors at the Internet service provider level, and so nobody inside China can read them without having the know-how to use special circumvention technologies.

ANTONY THOMAS, filmmaker, April 12, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: When this man stood in front of the tank in (Tiananmen Square in 1989), did he ever indicate whether he feared the tactic would not work and he might get run over?
THOMAS: On the night of June 3-4, many people, including a group of 11 students had been crushed by tanks, and at the time those incidents were well knows. It is that which makes the actions of the Tank Man and the tank commander so extraordinary.

NIALL FERGUSON, author, November 7, 2006
CZIKOWSKY: What are your thoughts on China and its deliberations between enlarging its international trade and contact with the outside world and its desire to keep somewhat insular from influences from the outside world? Also, how would you evaluate China’s relations with North Korea?
FERGUSON: China right now is very cleverly having globalization on its own terms (see its use of capital controls). North Korea is more useful to China as a diplomatic pawn than dead.

SUE WILLIAMS, PBS Frontline producer. June 18, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: Does China block emails by content? Does China block any discussions on Facebook?
WILLIAMS: I know they can block web searches and while I am not certain about their ability to block emails by content, if I was emailing someone in a sensitive position about a sensitive subject, I would certainly be very cautious about what I said.
CZIKOWSKY: Is English widely taught throughout China?
WILLIAMS: English is taught in all schools from an early age. In many companies, a great deal of work is done in English. But it is not used a common language by people who speak different languages and dialects. Written Chinese is the same throughout the country. What is often done between people who can’t understand a word or phrase is they sort of write the character with their fingers on their hand, showing the other person as they explain. And of course, often people just can’t communicate.
CZIKOWSKY: Among the youth you have observed in China, how aware were they of other countries, and what were their feelings towards relations with other countries, in particular Taian, Japan, Korea, and the United States?
WILLIAMS: I think they are very aware of Taiwan, Japan, and Korea and draw a lot culturally from those countries. Singers and fashion from those three are very popular. And as you can see from the rapper in the film (“Young and Restless in China”), young people are very interested in popular culture in America. It would be very hard to make generalizations about their political attitudes but I think young Chinese are very curious, and mostly positive, about these places.

PHILIP P. PAN, Washington Post Foreign Service, June 3, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: How aware are the young—and in particular young government leaders and bureaucrats—of alternative government styles? Is there hope that future Chinese leaders will realize the advantages of less repressive governing?
PAN: This is a great question. There has been an explosion in access to information in the state media as well as on the Internet, and my impression is that young people in China today are quite aware of “alternate government styles”. Many know all about the American democratic system (and are sometimes quite critical of it). For example, many educated young Chinese are following the U.S. Presidential campaign with interest. In addition, there’s a lot of information available about the democratic political systems in Europe and Asia—especially in Taiwan!
Whether such knowledge leads to political change, though, is another question. Will the younger generation of government officials and bureaucrats eventually embrace “a less repressive” political system? I think they would certainly be more open to it than their predecessors. On the other hand, they might also conclude—as the current leadership apparently has—that a one-party system is in their own best interests. These young people have benefited from the one-party system, and even if they don’t like its most repressive aspects, they may decide that they—and their families—are better off as members of the political elite, with all the benefits and privileges that implies.
Still, several of the characters in “Out of Mao’s Shadows” are of the younger generation and they often surprised me with their willingness to take risks and push for change. They are lawyers, journalists, peasants, AIDS activists, environmentalists…
Young people are a very important part of the nascent civil society emerging in China, and it will be very interesting to see what happens to this generation in the years ahead!
CZIKOWSKY: I have read many of the handouts that the Falun Gong dive out on the streets. Why does the Chinese government suppress the Falun Gong? Is there anything our government can do that would make the Chinese government end their repression of the Falun Gong?
PAN: Almost everywhere I speak in the United States, someone asks about Falun Gong. This is testament to the tenacity of its adherents, I suppose!
The government suppresses Falun Gong because it sees it as a threat to its monopoly on power. It considers any organization that isn’t under the party’s control a potential threat. And it was especially wary of Falun Gong because it attracted so many members and inspired such stubborn faith—even in the face of torture.
As for what the U.S, government can do about it, that’s a tough question and goes to the larger question of U.S. policy toward China and other authoritarian states.
CZIKOWSKY: How can we know what happens to dissidents? How reliable are government reports and denials, and how do we find out when they are lying and know the sources are reliable?
PAN: In addition to foreign correspondents working in China, there are a few non-governmental organizations dedicated to tracking what happens to Chinese dissidents. You’ve heard of some of them—Amnesty, Human Rights Watch—but there are also others such as Human Rights in China and the Dui Han Foundation. In addition, the State Department and others in the U.S. government follow these cases.
Of course, if the Chinese government wants to hide something, it can be quite good at it. There are several imprisoned dissidents whose whereabouts are unknown.