Freedom House on Freedom in China (and the World)
Freedom House, the oft-cited NGO, just released its annual report on the state of freedom around the world in 2007.
China earned the undesired status of “Not Free”– a 7 for political rights (PR) and a 6 for civil liberties (CL) (where 1 represents the most free and 7 the least free). By way of comparison, India received a 2 for PR and 3 for CL; Singapore a 5 and 4; Russia a 6 and 5; and the US a 1 and 1. For more, view charts and graphs and an executive summary.
The Bush Administration has chosen not to push the democracy and human rights issues with China. 2006 was a particularly abysmal year on this front. Here is a prescient Washingon Post editorial in the run-up to President Hu’s April 2006 visit to Washington. The Post piece calls out the administration for its “exquisite sensitivity” to China on these matters and notes more than a little hypocrisy in the president’s special treatment shown to Hu.
From a strategic perspective, one has to ask: why would you risk so much in Egypt but play it safe with China? Well, Dr. Rice has since changed the tune on Egypt. Maybe 2007 will be the year of democracy push in China.
January 26, 2007 at 2:40 am
China’s Unmentionables
There is a post on the four day old China Redux blog that readers interested in China politics really should read. I would like to describe it in greater detail (or even some detail), but, frankly, I am concerned that if I do so, I might be writing the…
January 30, 2007 at 2:44 am
[...] Law Blog was kind enough to link to the aforementioned post and suggested therein a post by China Redux, “that readers interested in China politics really should read.” Here [...]