'Let us speak!' Social debate is opening up China … but the Communist Party still dictates. Chris Richards tracks the boundaries of the new political space

New Internationalist, Sept, 2004 by Chris Richards

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The communications revolution

Transnationals like to brag that China's integration into the global economy will help propel the Government to observe human rights. The argument is that free markets and free speech are travelling companions: if one develops, the other will naturally follow. This position has many flaws (page 20). Nevertheless, there are a number of indirect consequences flowing from the opening-up of China's markets that should push China closer to a free speech climate.

First, the diaspora. According to official figures, more than 20 million Chinese went overseas last year. This record number included students, tourists, businesspeople and tens of thousands of workers. They are building highways and bridges in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Yemen, drilling for oil in Sudan and Venezuela, mining ore in Peru and Australia and picking fruit in England and Israel. (5) Those that return will have a different view of the world and changed expectations.

Second, as China embraces capitalism, an important reason for the people to accept a curtailment of freedom to speak is disappearing.

A postgraduate student at the Peking University who talked frankly and openly to me about a range of issues, nevertheless felt uncomfortable discussing human rights in public. She described it as the dominance of 'the Big I over the Little I'. She believed that the Government is justified in setting aside individual rights if it means that the collective good is promoted.

This feeling, still prominent, is nevertheless in retreat. As the market economy pushes the gap between rich and poor further and further apart, the belief that the CCP continues to champion the collective good is diminishing. Workers are no longer able to rely on an 'iron rice bowl'. Previously expected employment rights to job security, healthcare, housing, pay and pensions are receding as the number of people employed by state-owned enterprises falls. Rising in its stead is a new industrial workforce that gets rock-bottom pay, sweatshop conditions, and little (if any) education or pension rights (page 24).

The Little I battles the Big I

The health system is already based on user fees. Recent research says that, as a consequence, as much as 30 per cent of poverty in China is directly attributable to medical bills. (6) And as the State provides less and less for the collective good, the justifications for sacrificing individual rights are also retreating. As a result, public resistance is becoming more visible. Nicola Bullard (page 14) points out that: 'In 2001 the Chinese Ministry of Social Security reported an average of 80 "daily incidents" but by December 2002 this had swelled to 700 per day.' And, over time, it looks likely there will be less community tolerance for harsh action being directed at those who publicly criticize the authority of the CCP. This will leave the CCP in a much more difficult climate in which to silence its critics.

The exponential growth in the market for Chinese people to communicate with each other must also help free up expression. Officially, the mainland has more than 300 million mobile phone subscribers. They sent a staggering 10 billion SMS (text) messages during this year's seven-day Spring festival, which is 7.7 messages for every one of China's citizens. (7)