What Does the Chinese Communist Party Fear the Most?

 

‘Stability Maintenance’ Means Repressing the Chinese Spirit

A massive web of agencies works to stamp out the smallest inklings of political discontent

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By Chen Guangcheng

Nov. 25, 2022 6:10 pm ET Taken from the Wall Street Journal

 

“What does the Chinese Communist Party fear most?” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked me this question during a private meeting in Washington in January. Having been persecuted by Beijing for more than seven years for my human-rights work, I know that it is crucial to ask these fundamental questions. It’s the only way to begin to break down the bulwarks that prop up tyrants everywhere. “What the CCP fears most,” I told Mr. Pompeo, “is that its own illegitimacy will be exposed.”

Even the most strident authoritarian regimes know that real power lies in the legitimacy gained through democratic elections. That’s why many dictators—from Vladimir Putin to Saddam Hussein—make a ritual show of holding elections even when few are convinced the results will be legitimate. Real elections would mean an end to the dictators’ power. The simple truth is that people everywhere want freedom.

The people of China are no different. The communist regime took over by force in 1949; in the subsequent seven decades it has never held free or transparent elections, and instead has subjected the population to a steady stream of state-induced trauma, the reality of which it systematically and violently represses. But repression can’t extinguish the spirit. More often, the greater the repression, the greater the desire to find freedom.

No one understands this paradox more than the Communist Party. That is why in the post-1989 era it has focused on what it calls “stability maintenance” via a massive web of agencies tasked with stamping out the smallest inklings of political discontent. High-level officials are also leaders in propaganda or other domestic security offices. Tactics supported by the regime to achieve stability at all costs include extralegal measures like surveillance and harassment, disappearance and torture.

The idea of stability maintenance involves eliminating any sources of incitement. This can mean snuffing out a protest like the one last month on an overpass in Beijing, where a man held a banner that read: “Remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping.” It can mean literally destroying human remains, both to hide evidence of wrongdoing by the authorities and to eliminate a potential location for mass gathering. Dong Jianbiao was detained for protesting the long-term imprisonment of his daughter, who was charged with the “crime” of splattering a photo of Mr. Xi with ink. The authorities blamed Mr. Dong’s sudden death in custody on diabetes, but when family members were taken to the morgue they found his body covered in bruises. The authorities cremated the body five days after his death.

In some years Beijing has reported spending more on stability maintenance than on the military. The Communist Party’s severe response to dissent is perhaps the best evidence of the ability and desire of the Chinese people to demand their rights. Unfortunately, U.S. leaders from both political parties have given the party the legitimacy it craves. In the 1970s the U.S. recognized Beijing diplomatically at the expense of Taipei. In the 1990s the U.S. granted the regime most-favored-nation status and helped it join the World Trade Organization. Decisions like these allowed Beijing to cut lucrative trade deals while dodging criticism of its atrocities.

The U.S. and other democratic nations must stand by the Chinese people and stand up to the Communist Party. Western governments should reach out to dissidents and take a stand for the rights of Chinese citizens, condemning the party’s disregard for human rights and persecution of the Chinese people. American corporations should put principle over profit and stop bowing down to the Communist Party. These steps benefit not only the Chinese people but also the long-term interests of the U.S., encouraging peace and stability.

Every dictatorship has weaknesses that could become its undoing. It doesn’t matter how much pomp is on display at the party’s regularly scheduled meetings. It doesn’t matter which leader comes out on top or who is most insistent on holding on to power. It’s all an illusion. It has nothing to do with the hopes and dreams of the Chinese people, which aren’t any different than those of people around the world. They want freedom and self-governance, which the authoritarians in Beijing are incapable of delivering.

Mr. Chen is a distinguished fellow at the Catholic University of America’s Center for Human Rights and author of “The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man’s Fight for Justice and Freedom in China.”