‘Dream’ challenge
APROTEST over censorship and a call for China to be governed by the rule of law has presented Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party, with his first big political test. There is no easy way to resolve it.
The crisis stems from censorship of a New Year’s editorial by the progressive Southern Weekend newspaper, which had called for what it termed the “Dream of constitutionalism”. Before publication, the editorial was altered by the Guangdong provincial censor so that it read as a bland affirmation of Xi’s call for a “China dream” of growing prosperity and national pride.
Some members of the newspaper’s staff have gone on strike and there were protests in support of its stance outside its Guangzhou offices on Monday. A petition is circulating for the dismissal of the censor who changed the content.
Constitutionalism is an explosive issue. In a oneparty system there is an irreconcilable clash between the rule of law and a party that sets itself above that law. In urging the Communist Party to subject itself to a constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, human rights and property rights, the editorial was in effect asking it to curb its own powers.
The original editorial read: “Only if constitutionalism is realised and powers (are) checked can citizens loudly voice their criticism of power, and only then can every person believe in their hearts they are free to live their own lives.” It also made the powerful point that Chinese people today dream of more than material prosperity, but of what it called “spiritual abundance”, based on dignity.
Journalists have long been used to cat-and-mouse games with censors. But the uneasy rules were breached in this case when the editorial was not merely suppressed, but rewritten. The outcry shows a hunger among many people in China for a more frank and radical debate about the nature of power.
Xi should let them have it – though he must know that, for the Communist Party, it would be the thin end of a most dangerous wedge. – Financial Times