Recently I've commented on the Communist Chinese persecution and harrassment of Catholics faithful to Rome, a case in point being the late Bishop John Yang Shudao, RIP. But it's not only members of the underground Church who have to keep silent about their beliefs.
Journalists, lawyers, activitists -- anyone who doesn't toe the party line -- are well advised to shut up or face the consequences. Take, for example, Chen Guangcheng.
Mr. Chen is -- or was -- a lawyer. He is blind, but didn't let that stop him from learning the law (such as it is, in China) on his own. And he's not blind to the injustices of the Communist system. He made his name defending the poor and the disabled.
Inevitably, Communist officialdom took notice. In 2005 Mr. Chen dared to exposed a government-sponsored campaign of violence in Shandong province. To meet their quota under China's inhuman "one child policy", a local authority forced 7,000 women to be sterilized and face late-term abortions which killed 1000s of babies.
Mr. Chen thought this was wrong, a barbaric and unlawful infringement on the rights of these women. He brought a class action suit on their behalf. For his pains, he was hauled before a kangaroo court and sentenced to 51 months in prison on trumped-up charges of destroying government property and organizing a crowd to block traffic.
Mr. Chen served did his time -- every day of it -- and was looking forward to being released today. And he was released, only to be immediately placed under house arrest!
Yuan Weijing, his wife, was informed that the security detail which has surrounded her home since her husband was incarcerated in 2006 would be increased and that cameras would be installed nearby to keep them under 24/7 surveillance. How long will this last? That she was not told.
Nicholas Bequelin, who works with Human Rights watch, said “He’s not really being released, but just going from prison to yet another form of detention. There is just no basis in Chinese law for doing this.”
What M. Bequelin doesn't understand is that there is no fixed and fair system of law in China. We know that in the west there's one law for the rich and powerful and another for the poor and disadvantaged. But the situation in China is much worse.
Under their system, the law is whatever the Communist government says it is, on any given day for any given individual. It could change tomorrow. Or it could remain the same forever.
Old China hands know the meaning of "This is China." Expect the worst and you will never be surprised or disappointed.
This post is based on an article by Bill Schiller in today's Toronto Star. Click here to read the entire report.
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