I frequently run into cases in which people attack China for its human rights abuses, but are unaware that, overall, things are much, much, much better than in the past. Violations of rights are serious and China has a long way to go, but it’s worth noting that it’s also come a very, very long way. The New York Times has a very interesting article (August 2) that makes the point quite well, “Despite Flaws, Rights in China Have Expanded.”
As the author notes,
But Chinese people also increasingly live where they want to live. They travel abroad in ever larger numbers. Property rights have found broader support in the courts. Within well-defined limits, people also enjoy the fruits of the technological revolution, from cellphones to the Internet, and can communicate or find information with an ease that has few parallels in authoritarian countries of the past.
Establishing the right baseline and determining the direction of a country is indispensable for evaluating its legal regime and how much freedom its people enjoy. Despite serious problems, China is moving in the right direction. I cannot say the same thing about the Bush administration, which has been moving the USA from more to less freedom. The relative places on the spectrum are vastly different, but the directions of movement are opposite.
This (China’s progress) is a good point that ought not be missed. Post-Mao China is much freer than the old Marxist regime.
That said, I think the current vocal criticisms of the Chinese government are warranted, and insufficient, particularly because in recieving the Olympics the Chinese leadership agreed to further liberalize, and then failed to do so. Too many governments and corporations see China as too important to antagonize, and so are willing to turn a blind eye to China’s misbehavior. I think we’ll regret this.
Freedom in China? Interesting Perspective
The regime in China is cruel and is underwritten by an explicit philosophy of collectivism. When China was announced as the host of the 2008 Olympics, I had my own radio show in Spokane, Washington, and I was enraged. I saw it as an embrace of thei…