China crackdown underscores nervousness ahead of key Communist party meeting

Chinese authorities are issuing security edicts ranging from a ban on knife sales in the capital to requiring taxi cabs lock their windows ahead of the Communist Party’s national congress.

|
Andy Wong/AP
Chinese paramilitary policemen stand guard near Tiananmen Gate in Beijing Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. Beijing is tightening security as its all-important Communist Party congress approaches, and some of the measures seem bizarre. Most of the security measures were implemented in time for Thursday's opening of a meeting of the Central Committee.

The Chinese authorities are tightly muzzling critics as they prepare for the ruling Communist Party’s national congress and issuing a slew of security edicts, ranging from a ban on the sale of knives in the capital to admonitions about subversive ping pong balls.

Human rights lawyers, religious activists, and political dissidents are among those exiled from their homes in Beijing or forbidden to speak publicly until the 18th party congress, due to seal a once-in-a-decade leadership change, is over.

“I was forced to leave Beijing with my parents under police supervision on Oct. 25..   I am in Anhui Province,” wrote AIDS activist Hu Jia, normally under house arrest in the capital, on his blog today. He said he would not be allowed to return home until Nov. 20.

The congress will start on Nov. 8 and is expected to last about a week.

“I have just finished talking to the police,” said human rights lawyer Li Fangping, when contacted by a reporter.  “It is really inconvenient for me to talk to you,” he added, before hanging up.

Liu Xiaoyuan, lawyer to prominent dissident artist Ai Weiwei, is also among those banned from Beijing for the next two weeks. Currently visiting his home province of Jiangxi on business, he said “the police came to talk to me … and told me not to return to Beijing until the end of the 18th party congress. I think it’s ridiculous.”

The Chinese security forces are always on high alert before major political events, such as significant anniversaries or important party meetings. However, the run-up to the party congress has been marked by signs of unusual nervousness.

Beijing taxi drivers, for example, have been warned that during the congress period they must avoid “areas of political importance,” which presumably means the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square, where the event will be held.

They were also warned, in a memo issued a month ago, to “look for passengers who intend to spread messages by carrying balloons that bear slogans or ping pong balls bearing reactionary messages.”

To prevent such passengers from spreading their subversive ideas, drivers were instructed to “seal the windows” of their vehicles “by removing window cranks.”

The extreme measures drew caustic comment from citizens on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform. “The logic is that they are so lacking in self-confidence they are scared so they have to take strict precautions,” wrote one blogger who called himself Yanpku.

Even more, establishment figures have complained. Yang Rui, a well- known television presenter, recounted on his blog how he was unable to buy a fruit knife in September because the sale of such potentially dangerous items had been forbidden until the end of the congress.

But perhaps the clearest and oddest sign of the authorities’ nervousness is the recent sharp spike in Weibo comments about the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta.

Not because amateur analysts are drawing any comparisons, but because the Chinese for Sparta – “si ba da” sounds very like the phrase commonly used to refer to the congress “shi ba da” (“the big 18.”) But “shi ba da” is a banned term on the blogosphere, erased by the censors wherever they find it. The upcoming congress will be choosing China’s leaders for the next 10 years, but the country’s citizens are not allowed to talk about it. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to China crackdown underscores nervousness ahead of key Communist party meeting
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/1101/China-crackdown-underscores-nervousness-ahead-of-key-Communist-party-meeting
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe