A rare protest in Be

Creative neitizens trying to spread information and get past the heavy censorship taking place around this incident have provided an eerie parrelell for Americans. 

“Today, an incident took place in the southern Washington DC area, a woman from the state of Texas, named Liya Yuan, was pushed from a building to her death after a gang rape. Since the suspect has a powerful background, the FBI claimed that the surveillance system was not working and concluded that she committed suicide. The Texans got angry and protested. Washington DC sent armed police to maintain stability, including helicopters and traffic rerouting, and censored related posts on Facebook and Twitter.”

This put into perspective what is really happening in Beijing right now with this tragic case.

A massive police and paramilitary presence has descended upon Fengtai District around Jingwen Clothing and Apparel Shopping Mall, the scene of either a suicide or murder last Friday. On May 3, a young woman from Anhui province fell to her death from the

If these allegations are correct with the untimely death of this women, this protest is completely justified. However I feel that aiming the march towards Tiananmen will see a massive crackdown on this cry for transparency and justice from Beijing authorities. If you thought that Beijing authorities were lightening up on protests after the anti-Japanese demonstrations last fall, this is what their response really looks like when the aim of the protesters is a domestic target.

It will be interesting to see how far these Anhui native protesters are allowed to go and if their call for the truth will be given a government response. Most likely more to come.

The Southern Weekly staff took to the streets today in protest over a local minister over stepping his bounds in the local media. It seems that this will be the first major scandal for the CCP in 2013 and depending on how it is handled could set the tone for how the new generation of leaders will handle calls for reform. The next few days are going to be the most interesting and critical. If these protests gather momentum and support, higher up officials will need to weigh in. I recommend watching this incident closely. 

I feel that this letter, while a good sign that there are academics out there still willing to stick their necks out for progress, will not amount to much. Historically under the CCP academics have been the target for many purges during the early years but modern China is a far cry from Mao or Deng’s China. I can see why this group of academics would put this letter out now. The new administration is just settling in and we are waiting to see what changes will be made and what Xi, as a leader, will look like. However, I feel that under the veil of a party wide campaign of anti-corruption, internet freedom will not be seen. In fact, I believe it will only get worse. Recent moves by government censors to eradicate VPN usage in China is evidence of this move.

However under the move against corruption, I think that there could be some real change towards a more democratic way of governing. More and more it seems that people within China are wanting accountability with their officials both at the local and national levels. I think this has been because of the scandals that have rocked the CCP before the 18th National CPC. While the move to have this letter removed from media outlets was an obvious one, I am curious to see how viral this letter will become among neitizens and how long it can remain in internet dialogue. 

While China may be doing a semi successful job at making territorial claims to resource rich islands and waters in the South China Sea, its actions are not winning it any fans. Discontent among leaders of countries is one thing but to have protests being held by citizens is another. Administrations come and go quickly but the people that allow them to stay in power are around much longer. So if China’s actions are raising discontent among the people that inhabit the countries it is at odds with, then China may want to rethink some of its tactics. I feel that anti-Chinese protests like this one will continue to happen in countries that are involved in the territory disputes. This could also provide a great opportunity for the US and its recent “pivot” towards East and South East Asia. 

It seems that the protests against everything Japanese continues in China.  From the video and article it seems the protests are becoming a little more out of hand than the government has wanted. However like it also stated, it is a bit strange how these protests have met little deterrence from police when protests in other areas ie Tibet and Xinjiang see media blackouts and the PLA involvement. I think that it wouldn’t be a difficult stretch to say that the CCP will let these protests go on as long as lives are not put in danger. For once, it seems that the CCP has protests that are not directed at the mounting domestic issues in China and on the year when Xi Jinping is supposed to take power. Xi might be able to walk into power with Chinese national pride and fervor at its highest in years, which could consolidate his influence quickly as president. However should these protest turn south with the lose of life specifically a Japanese person, very serious problems could arise and these two nations could legitimately be put on the brink of war. 

The cracks in China’s hold on its peripheral regions are becoming more and more evident with each new movement. The protests and acts of self-immolation that have taken place in Tibet and in Qinghai are the most visible and publicized but the protests in other regions like Hong Kong have been left out of the attention of the media.  It seems that a general question of autonomy is being called upon by many of the government’s ordained “autonomous regions”.  The idea of autonomy for the people that live in these regions and what the government believes to be autonomy are drastically different and I feel this is where the protests are getting much of their complaints.  Hong Kong, like Tibet and Xinjiang, have a culture and language all of their own and therefore hold a strong sense of regional identity. However, because of the paranoid nature of the Chinese government, if national identity is not the only or top form of identity then it is perceived as threat.  With this mentality more protests will arise and the ones that are already in action will continue and most likely gain ground.  The Chinese government is in a drastic need for revision of what they will consider a threat to national identity because the stance that they hold now will likely lead to a complete break down of legitimacy in their autonomous regions.  Lets hope that the protest in Hong Kong remain peaceful and productive.

How many self-immolations need to take place before this issue and the grievances are legitimately addressed by the Chinese government? I agree with the article when it is stated, “The Tibetan-populated parts of China are experiencing their worst unrest in four years, ahead of the Tibetan new year on 22 February.” I Hope the protests that will most likely take place do not have lose of life and that something positive comes of them.