“Could it happen in China?”
The aftermath of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions continues to play out in the middle east, inspiring many Western journalists and news editors to ask this question. Yesterday’s failed “jasmine protests” in China have been reported in great depth in English language publications, despite the fact that not much really happened.
Before this weekend’s events, there were already a range of responses to the “Can it happen in China?” question. Writing in The Atlantic Howard French says “the dangerous messages [from Cairo] for the Authoritarian International, and its putative leader, China, have only just begun to be unpacked.”
Many commentators don’t believe the protests will spread to China. This view is explained clearly in an opinion piece by David Pilling in the Financial Times: Why the Chinese are not inspired by Egypt. On the Sinica podcast published last week, your correspondent and the other guests tended to agree with this view: China is in a very different situation to Egypt, and the conditions for mass protests do not seem to be in place.
However, judging from the events of the weekend — the heavy police presence at Wangfujing, strict Internet censorship and the harassment of dissidents — the Chinese government is far less confident.
- Original call for protests (Chinese – appeared on Boxun.com before hacking, reproduced on Facebook by exiled dissident Wang Dan)
- Transpacifica: Police-led protests? Satire and the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ (translation of this post)
- ChinaGeeks: The Revolution That Wasn’t
- Melissa Chan on Al Jazeera: “Call me if there’s a revolution”
- Perry Link in the New York Review of Books: The Secret Politburo Meeting Behind China’s New Democracy Crackdown
- The New York Times (Andrew Jacobs): Chinese Security Officials Respond to Call for Protests
- The Wall Street Journal (Jeremy Page): Call for Protests Unnerves China
- Boxun.com (Chinese) coverage of the protests: Article 1, Article 2