Today, as no doubt anyone not living behind the great firewall is aware, is the 20th anniversary of one of the landmark events of the past century – the Tiananmen Square Massacre; an event which the Chinese government is determined to erase from history. For our part, western countries seem OK with this, considering how we awarded the country last summer’s Olympics, and did our best to look the other way whenever someone mentioned the topic of "human rights".
What we are now left with is a question: How do we deal with China? Their record towards human rights is atrocious, and with the obsession their government has with keeping face, I sincerely doubt we’ll be seeing an independent Tibet or official recognition of the events of June 3-5th 1989 any time soon. However, China can no more be boycotted and cut off from the world economy than the United States can. And considering Lil’ Kim’s recent trip off the deep end, any solution to dealing with North Korea and it’s batshit crazy leader is going to have to involve China. However, we can’t turn a blind eye to China’s history of brutality towards its own people.
The answer, I think, lies in recent stories about how China has restricted access to sites such as Twitter in the lead up to today. Even with all the restrictions China has put in place, there are always still those resourceful few who find ways through. To borrow a quote from an excellent movie: “You can’t stop the signal”.
Looking at how the US has been dealing with Cuba shows that blockades aren’t the solution. On the other hand, the fall of the Iron Curtain was no doubt hastened due to the inundation of western media that occurred following the relaxation of state censorship under Gorbachev. Hopefully by inundating Chinese airwaves with uncensored news and information, the seeds of change can be planted in the next generation of leaders.
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