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The Chinese democracy movement and organizations

By Chin Jin - posted Friday, 21 December 2012


It is my view that the modern Chinese democratic movement is the continuation of the Revolution of 1911 led by Dr Sun Yat-sen, which by chance, but successfully, overthrew the Qing Dynasty after nearly two decades of consistent armed struggle and founded the Republic of China where at that time an imperfect and short-lived democracy was put into practice.

The newborn democracy in China was interrupted by both communism and fascism, the Soviet Union which was instigating communist rebels within China, and Japan which invaded China, resulting in the crippling of the Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang government, which eventually lost to the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.

Under the rigid political control of the Chinese Communist Party during Mao Zedong period from 1949 to 1976, there were no signs and voices of any tangible democratic movement.

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1978-79 saw a glimpse of a turning point with new opportunity for potential political advancement in China. The Chinese Communist Party slightly loosened its grip on public opinion because top leaders were preoccupied with the redistribution of internal power struggles. There appeared to be a tendency of introspection calling for change in China. The Xidan Democracy Wall in Beijing became the unique venue or place where people expressed their political viewpoints. I saw it as the inception of the modern Chinese democracy movement.

But this was short-lived. The Xidan Democracy Wall was officially closed in November 1979. Most of the activists of the Democracy Wall were arrested or silenced.

In November 1982, Dr. Wang, Bingzhang, a medicine PhD graduate ofMcGill University inMontreal Canadakick-started the"China Spring Democracy Movement" in New York, which lifted the curtain for the Chinese overseas democracy movement.

One year later in December 1983, the first conference of the China Spring Democracy Movement in New York gave birth to the first overseas Chinese democratic organization "the Chinese Alliance for Democracy", short for "CAD". The key target of CAD was to do away with the CCP's one-party ruleandbring democracy in China.

Because CAD was the first political opposition set up by young Chinese students, the incumbent ROC leader Chiang Ching-kuo was very keen to offer substantial support, which sadly discontinued after his sudden death in early 1988.

Dr Wang Bingzhang was trapped and kidnapped at the border of China and Vietnam by the joint efforts of Vietnamese thugs or mafia and Chinese agents in June 2002, who was later given life jail term by the Chinese authorities in early 2003. I would like to regard Dr Wang Bingzhang as the founding father of the overseas Chinese democratic movement.

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In April 1989, the death of Hu Yaobang triggered 1989 Beijing democratic movement. Alarmed by the millions of people assembling in Tiananmen Square, on 4 June, Deng Xiaoping ordered to crackdown the movement, causing the blood-bath massacre that shocked the whole world.

As the result, the liberal-minded Party chief Zhao Ziyang stepped down, the probable political reform initiated by the CCP completely vanished all of a sudden and a peaceful transition of the CCP following the footstep of KMT in Taiwan from a revolutionary party to a parliamentary one almost impossible.

A group of fleeing democrats of Tiananmen Square Massacre jointly drafted a proposal on 20 July 1989 to set up of the Federation for A Democratic China. They called for all Chinese to unite under the banner of "liberty, democracy, rule of law and human rights" to push for democracy in China. In September, 1989, the Federation for a Democratic China, known as FDC, was founded in Paris France.

The set-up of the Federation for A Democratic China was widely regarded as the rebuilding up Chinese pro-democracy strength overseas.

For a period of time, the FDC expanded to new highs across the world with members exceeding 2000. The FDC leaders made frequent visits and public speeches in European countries, United States, Canada, Japan and Australia to amplify the FDC political views and set up local FDC branches. Wherever the FDC leaders went, they received warm receptions. In December 1989, Wuer Kaixi and Wan Runnan jointly visited Australia, I personally witnessed the George Street Wesley Church packed with Chinese students and overseas Chinese to listen to them. Many decided to fill in a form and join in the FDC Sydney Branch instantly that evening. Even Bill O'Chee who was later elected the Federal Senator of Queensland National Party joined in the FDC Queensland Branch. The high enthusiasm for promoting democratization in China was running hot at that time.

It was short lived. First, the political strongman Deng Xiaoping had the skilful measures to quell domestic political opposition and fend off international criticism. The short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness of the West provided a golden opportunity to the Chinese Communist Party to build economic strength. More importantly, the Chinese democratic movement received little substantial and meaningful aid to sustain the movement effectively.

The June 4 democratic movement in 1989 seemed to be an immense opportunity for a regime change in China, but it slipped through the fingers of the Chinese people.

1989 became history. We cannot cry over spilt milk. Rather we should make a thorough comparison of our 3-decade democratic movement with its predecessors both domestically and internationally.

Internationally, there was the US War of Independence, and the Russian October Revolution. In China, on the other hand, there was the Revolution of 1911 as well as Mao Zedong's Communist Revolution. The American War of Independence enabled the establishment of the United States. The October Revolution heralded the foundation of a Soviet state. The Revolution of 1911 managed to topple the Manchurian Empire and to establish the Republic of China. The Chinese Communist Revolution was successful in forcing the Republic of China into exile in Taiwan, while imposing the dictatorship in mainland China.

The aim of the current Chinese democratic movement is to establish democracy in China. The difficulty of this task and its greatness makes this movement in no way inferior to any of the above-mentioned revolutions. However, we find that our movement is presently two birds in the bush rather than a bird in the hand. We are full of courage and integrity, but we severely lack the strength. We have neither external allies nor internal supporters.

Take a look at the US War of Independence. The 13 British colonies gained huge monetary and military support from France, the Netherlands, and Spain, to enable these colonies to break away and achieve independence from Britain. The Revolution of 1911 was sustained by the Japanese Yen, otherwise Dr. Sun and Huang could not have purchased the necessary weapons for armed uprisings, nor could they have afforded to arouse awareness of the masses by means of newspapers, let alone spreading revolutionaries across the country and firing the first shot in the Wuchang Uprising. The Russian October Revolution survived because of 26 million Papier Marks, which equates to €75 million. Armed with such a huge sum of money, Lenin went back to Russia, incited anti-war sentiments amongst the Russian soldiers and seized national power. The Chinese communist revolution was much more amazing, with the Chinese Communist Party being directly attached to the Far Eastern Branch of the Comintern. The success of the communist revolution was totally due to the fulfillment ofStalin's "internationalist obligations". Soviet weaponry, military advisors and even Soviet artillerymen were deployed to drive Chiang Kai-shek out of mainland China.

Has the Chinese democratic movement had any such opportunity to obtain external support? Yes, but very briefly, which was from the beginning of the China Spring Movement back in Autumn of 1982, to the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo on 13th Jan 1988.

The early death of Chiang Ching-kuo, however, had a great impact on the Chinese democratic movement. Although the movement experienced its climax in 1989, this was just a temporary phenomenon. The democratic movement then lost its political significance on the world stage.

This is China's fate.Can the Chinese democratic movement counterbalance the Communist Party? Not as things are.

The leaders in the US and the West are mostly politicians. Ronald Reagan had the guts, the will and the effective strategic planning to tear apart the evil empire of the Soviet Union, along with the aid of Thatcher, and they came across an open-minded Gorbachev.

Time and tide waits for no man, our movement does not have the benefit of the same stroke of luck. The Western politicians' policies are relatively pragmatic, concerned more about consequences and interests rather than moral values and fundamental principles.

Chinese communist dictatorship is currently gaining the upper hand on the international stage, thanks to tacit and consistent Western appeasement. After 1989, the Bush and Clinton administrations actually rescuedan ailing Communist China. The US and the West strengthened the Chinese Communist Party unconsciously.

Over the past 20 years, the Chinese Communist Party has only had to deal with internal worries, which have not been resolved and so are now surging. Also, significant external concerns are also mounting.

Notwithstanding our apparent weakness, we are on the correct side of history. The Chinese communist dictatorship is railing against the nature of the universe; its days are numbered, before this mansion of autocracy just falls apart.

At that time, what will the dispersed and fragmented Chinese democratic movement do?

We need to keep campaigning and bide our time. Our day will come.

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About the Author

Dr Chin Jin is a maverick, activist, campaigner, essayist, freelancer, researcher and organizer with the vision to foresee a new post-Chinese Communist regime era that will present more cooperatively, more constructively and more appropriately to the Asia Pacific region and even the world.

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All articles by Chin Jin

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