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China: What Is Going On in Dongzhou?

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 12/16/2005

China's remarkable economic achievements have instilled a pride the Chinese haven't felt in more than a century. But it is too early to say if the economic efforts will succeed in making the country more united, as exemplified by the latest use of force by the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989 against its own citizens.

Police opened fire on a crowd of thousands in Dongzhou, a village in Guangdong Province near Hong Kong, protesting against inadequate compensation offered by the government for land to be used for a new wind power plant, according to Saturday's edition of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper.

State media are silent on the incident in Dongzhou and both provincial and local governments have repeatedly refused to comment. But it was reported by foreign media that up to 20 were killed, while villagers said dozens more were missing in a tense standoff on Saturday.

The South China Morning Post newspaper quoted Dongzhou villagers as saying authorities were trying to cover up the killings by offering families money to give up the bodies of the dead.

What is going on in China? While the rest of the world "is on the verge of discovering that it cannot get along without China, China is realizing that it cannot get along with its own poor peasants," and started the latest spasm of internal suppression with a killing that is sure to inflame the Chinese socio-economic stability for months to come.

After a low-level protest broke out in Guangdong province, the Chinese government responded by killing and torturing hundreds of Dongzhou villagers. While this government is an improvement over its more brutal predecessors, its human rights record is nonetheless extremely grim.

In China's poverty-stricken countryside, the government routinely subjects its critics to harassment, imprisonment and torture. Police and military officials often imprison such people on charges of involvement against their regime.

For many ordinary Chinese, the quality of life is getting worse even in the midst of economic growth, and this must have prompted the many protests in China's vast, poverty-stricken countryside in recent months.

This recent Dongzhou clash has also marked a rise in social protests shuddering the Chinese countryside over land pullouts by force to build modern factories, power plants and shopping malls in the name of development.

But to their dismay, farmers often say they are paid too little and some accuse officials of stealing compensation money.

"The government promises you one thing and the next moment they do something else," said a resident from a poor province.

China is in trouble. How much, of course, depends on how the Chinese government tackles the issues of land seizures, corruption and a yawning wealth gap that experts say now threatens its social stability.

The challenge for today's Chinese leaders is clear. Even as they continue to tap the strength of economic growth, they must always guard against a destructive slide into national arrogance or aggressiveness.

Nevertheless, President Hu Jintao's government has made a priority of easing rural poverty, promising to spread prosperity to areas left behind by China's economic boom. But paradoxically in many regions, families still get less, even by the Asian standards.

One thing is lacking in China -- freedom. Freedom is essential if the Chinese are to build on their success. But if it spills over into aggressiveness, China will only alarm other countries and hurt its own interest.

In order to aid those engulfed by rural poverty, China must open its heart to the poor and the down trodden instead of driving them further into poverty and servitude.

Despite the impressive growth rates, there is a debate within China on to the degree of the strength and resilience of the Chinese economy. Is the economic performance of a permanent nature or is it merely transient?

Without any doubt, the single biggest challenge for China is to endure that its strength is permanent and predicated on a strong foundation. What China needs now, is not only mere economic growth but also better enforcement of existing growth into the rural provinces.

China urgently needs to develop effective channels for its economic distribution and must realize that in order to sustain and enhance growth over a prolonged period, it has to adopt a broader and more comprehensive outlook and rural development strategies that would empower the poor peasants directly - both in the short run and the long run.