It has been widely reported that the activist Liu Xiaobo is in prison because he is the author of Charter 8. It declared that “Chinese citizens are increasingly recognizing that freedom, equality and human rights are universal common values shared by all humankind.” The declaration was modeled on Vaclav Havel’s Czech Charter 77.
There is no reason to dispute this. But last Sunday, on the French channel TV5, a Chinese journalist participating in a panel discussion in Paris suggested that the real reason was something else. Eleven years ago, Liu Xiaobo made a statement for which apparently he could not be forgiven. What China needed before it could live under conditions of freedom and the rule of law, he said, was three hundred years of life under a colonial government. What he probably meant was that under such a government oppositional forces would develop that, once the colonial yoke was shaken off, would form the basis of a free government.
This only strengthens the eloquent article Charles Foran, the vice-president of PEN Canada, of which Liu Xiaobo is an honourary member, published in Monday’s Globe and Mail.
This was Foran’s conclusion:
“Here is a grim thought about what may be ahead for the 2010 laureate: Mr. Liu won’t only be missing the awards ceremony in Oslo; he might not see the outside of a prison cell for the better part of a decade. Are the rest of us going to stand for this?”
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
“Are the rest of us going to stand for this?”
Can’t disagree with the spirit, but what exactly did Mr. Foran have in mind? We’ll all hold our breath until our faces turn blue? We’ll go to Ottawa and throw rocks at the Chinese Embassy? Send a gunboat?
As much as I’m disgusted with China’s treatment of Mr. Liu, I’m with Fred.
China’s indifference to external pressure on human rights issues reminds me of the time I stopped to chastise two teenage girls who darted in front of my car so that I almost ran them down. I rolled down my window to say please, for your own sake, be careful crossing the street.
Their response: “Tell someone who cares….”
The Chinese are behaving exactly like me. I don’t want anybody to tell me how to behave either.
Are we surprised? The Chinese world for foreigner is either barbarian or devil. I really don’t think my opinion is listened to by those in charge there because we just don’t matter. Pity.
Everybody’s behavior is to some extent influenced by what he thinks others will think. Chinese want to be appreciated by the rest of the world. They are happy the world admires their rise.