It's the CHINESE GOVERNMENT, Stupid

It's the Chinese government that's the problem, not the Chinese people. I look forward to a free and open China that can reassume its place among the world's greatest civilizations.

Only the single issue of Tibet, many Han Chinese only know the official revisionist line that they've been fed since birth. But on this and every other issue, there are Chinese who recognize their government's lies for what they are and use their conscience to try to improve China. For Hu Jia and others who dare suggest in writing that China is less then perfect, the penalty is often a prison sentence (or worse) handed down by a kangaroo court. If I were writing a parallel blog in China, constructively critical of the government - and you were reading it - we would both be in trouble.

In some cases U.S. companies have bent right over and given China what they needed to arrest activists. In at least one case they even lied to U.S. Congress about it (yes, I'm talking about Yahoo), and yet somehow the issue has largely escaped the notice of the Executive Branch. Despite the lack of attention that's been paid to the growing problem of the Chinese superpower, there fortunately are pre-existing organizations like the U.S. Congressional Executive Commission on China, and Freedom House, which focuses on undemocratic countries the world over, with a strong focus on China (they offer the perspective that half of human beings now living in dictatorships live in China). Let's hope that the next president pays more attention to these organizations.

It's a cause for optimism that there are more than a few groups within China that recognize the value of openness to China and the world, even within the Communist Party. While this is encouraging and we should applaud their bravery, they have a long way to go - in 2004 Hu Jintao cited North Korea and Cuba as good examples of press management.

IF IT'S BAD FOR THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT, IT'S GOOD FOR EVERYONE ELSE, ESPECIALLY CHINESE CITIZENS.