China’s Great Fear of the Looking Glass

An increasingly assertive Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want us too look too closely into China’s eroding human rights situation and activities abroad. We must keep at it, or we’ll all lose. 

It is very difficult to find anyone today who will not acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments that the People’s Republic of China has made over the past two-and-a-half decades. From stunning economic growth, rapid (albeit uneven) modernization and the lifting of millions of ordinary Chinese from abject poverty to having a finger in nearly every aspect of global affairs, today’s China is, by several yardsticks, a success story worthy of recognition. 

Underneath these achievements, however, are troubling developments that not only should be criticized but that, left unchecked, could have truly nefarious global repercussions. But given their growing assertiveness, Chinese officials won’t brook such criticism and are increasingly belligerent in their response to it. By bristling with anger, China has repeatedly succeeded in scaring off its critics, which includes foreign governments, activists, journalists and academics. 

My article, published today in The News Lens International, continues here.