On Western Attitudes

By Fang Lizhi

Over the thousands of years of Chinese history, there are already too many memorable years, some of them happy and some of them painful. But the happiness and the pain of 1989 may differ from those of all previous years in one way--they will be remembered not only by the Chinese, but by the whole world. The year 1989 not only saw a profound change in the feelings of the Chinese toward their own country, but also witnessed an even more emphatic change in the perceptions and attitudes of the rest of the world toward China.

One sign of these changes is the growing recognition that the doctrine of "China's unique characteristics" in world affairs is seriously mistaken. Because of its geographical conditions, because of the racial and linguistic gulf that separates it from both the West and the South, and because of its long isolation, there are indeed many differences between China and other parts of the world. If you are looking for differences, you need not be a trained social scientist to spot them. But these obvious empirical facts have been oversimplified and extrapolated into a theory which proclaims that everything about China---its culture, its society, its politics---is absolutely unique. China is so unique, holds the theory, that none of the principles shown to be progressive and generally applicable elsewhere is applicable to China.

The theory of China's unique characteristics has been popular both in China and abroad for a long time. Whether or not it was the conscious intent of those who propagated this theory, it has contributed greatly to both China's self-isolation and the isolation imposed upon it.

It is also the basis for the double standard that many Western politicians have adopted in their China policy. Because of this double standard, human rights violations by China's rulers are frequently ignored, tolerated, and even covertly encouraged. An oft-heard proposition is that "China has a unique history and culture, therefore it should be judged according to its own standards." Violent and repressive encroachments on human rights are thus "understandable," and rulers who indiscriminately slaughter innocent people are "acceptable."

One of the impacts of the blood and fire at Tiananmen Square in 1989 is its irrefutable proof of the emptiness of the "Chinese characteristics" doctrine, and of the shameful moral bankruptcy involved in viewing such things as understandable and acceptable. China's students, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens do not accept the standard of "Chinese characteristics." Their dreams and aspirations are no different from those of any other people. Their values are no exception to the values held by the rest of the human race. And certainly, the weapons and tactics employed by China's dictators to murder their people are not at all unique; dictators of all stripes, all over the world, use just such methods.

The fact is that double standards, or multiple standards, are shortsighted politically. Right now humanity increasingly faces problems of a global nature: population, energy, environment, atmospheric warming, deforestation, and so on. But as long as there are governments in the world that can hold up the slaughter in Tiananmen Square as a glorious achievement, as long as there are dictators who refuse to be constrained by universal standards, it is hard to imagine that there could be the necessary understanding and cooperation to solve global problems. On the contrary, there have long been precedents demonstrating that the appeasement of governments which revel in slaughter is an invitation to worldwide catastrophe. Because of this, human rights are a global problem, maybe even the most important one. Without steady progress in the human rights environment all over the world, it will be very difficult to find serious solutions for other environmental problems in the global village.

In this sense, China's problems are global problems. The earth is a small place and getting smaller. What destroys the environment in one part affects the rest. In the same way that the meltdown at Chernobyl contaminated the atmosphere of half the planet, the massacre at Tiananmen Square contaminated the human rights environment of the whole planet. Anyone with global concerns cannot fail to be concerned about this.

Fang Lizhi is a prominent Chinese dissident and professor at the University of Arizona.