2006 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHINESE/ASIAN DEMOCRACY
Berlin, Germany May 14-19, 2006
Conference Theme: How can world democracies support democracy in China/Asia?
Why Australia And Other Western Democracies Should Support The Democracy Movement In China: The Challenges of Motivating Public Opinion
Victor Perton MP
Introduction
The great campaigner for democracy, Mahatma Gandhi said “Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.”
It is both a privilege and an honour to attend this conference.
We stand here to continue the work of those brave men and women who stood for democracy in Tiananmen Square and on the shoulders of the millions who have fought and died for democracy over the millennia.
Thank you to the Federation for a Democratic China, Human Rights Without Frontiers-China, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the European Academy Berlin for inviting me to speak at this important conference.
Congratulations to Herr Fei, Herr Gao, Herr Fautre, Herr Baumann and their teams for this fine conference.
It is encouraging to see so many great people gathered here to work for freedom and democracy in China and Asia.
WHYAM I HERE AND WHAT DO WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE?
I believe that there are no higher causes than human freedom and democracy.
Democratic communities should support the Chinese people in their fight for democracy. Western democratic governments have huge resources and moral authority. It is our goal at this conference to find strategies to convince these governments to robustly support the Chinese and Asian democracy movement with research, financial and moral support and through the provision of havens for political refugees.
I wish to put the case to the Australian people and other advanced democracies that it is in our interests, both as a nation and as private citizens, to more vigorously support the democracy movement in China.
As the example of Iraq shows, democracy can be imposed, but it must come from within.
However those fighting for democracy, in countries oppressed by tyrannical regimes, benefit from external support and vigilance.
This point was made by Natan Sharansky in his 2004 book The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror. Sharansky, a former Soviet political prisoner and Israeli parliamentarian, contends that freedom is essential for security and prosperity and every nation deserves to live free in a democratic society. He argues that:
“The security of the free world depends on using all possible leverage – moral, political and financial – to support democracy.”
We must leave this conference with concrete strategies to increase the number of Western citizens convinced of the case for democracy in China and other undemocratic Asian nations and committed to taking political action.
I believe that we need to strongly argue the case that a democratic China will provide greater stability and greater prosperity for the whole world. This sentiment was expressed by the Australian Free China organisation in its statement “Freedom for the Chinese people is also freedom for China’s neighbours and a profound step towards world peace.”
We need to increase the consciousness of western citizens that the people leading the Chinese government are the protégés of those who presided over the killing of 70 million people.
Last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, concluded that torture remained widespread in China. He reported that beatings with fists, sticks, and electric batons were the most common tortures. Cigarette burns; guard-instructed beatings by fellow inmates, and submersion in water or sewage were also reported. Nowak further found that many detainees were held for long periods in extreme positions, that death row inmates were shackled or handcuffed 24 hours per day, and that systematic abuse was designed to break the will of detainees until they confessed. Nowak found that members of some house church groups, Falun Gong adherents, Tibetans, and Uighur prisoners were specific targets of torture.
Let us hasten the demise of this regime that has killed tens of millions of its own citizens and flagrantly denies human rights on a day-to-day basis.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
I come to this International Conference on Chinese Democracy with a passion for democracy and individual liberty.
My family came to Australia as refugees from Lithuania and Latvia.
My Grandfather was tortured to death at the notorious Rainiai massacre by the Soviet NKVD (predecessor to the KGB) and my grandmother went to jail in Moscow before being sentenced to a long term in a Siberian prison camp.
As a University student I took part in an exchange with Beijing University and was able to complete a Diploma of Chinese Law in 1987. I lived on the campus of Beijing University and studied with many of the young people who ended up leading the 1989 Tiananmen uprising.
The experience of studying in China gave me a first hand understanding of the evils of Communist Government. It also gave me the opportunity to meet ordinary people who wanted a fair chance for themselves and their children and a life free from corruption and fear.
In 1993 I had the privilege of participating in the Australian Government Delegation to the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. My personal convictions were reflected in the words of the Dalai Lama who spoke at the United Nations Conference as follows:
No matter what country we come from, we all have common human needs and concerns. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering regardless of our race, religion, sex or political status. Human beings, all have the right to pursue happiness and live in peace and in freedom. It is often the most gifted, dedicated and creative members of our society who become victims of human rights abuses. Thus the political, social, cultural and economic developments of a society are obstructed by the violations of human rights. Therefore the protection of these rights and freedoms are of immense importance both for the individuals affected and for the development of the society as a whole.
AUSTRALIA
Australia has a population of approximately 20 million people, considerably smaller than that of our regional counterparts. We are a highly developed economy, which includes manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and services and provide most citizens with a high per capita income.
Australia is one of the oldest continuous multi-party parliamentary democracies.
AUSTRALIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS BACKGROUND
Australia has been a strong participant in the development of the international law of human rights. The Australian delegation made a significant contribution in the negotiations on the UN’s Charter to ensure that respect for human rights was placed alongside peace, security and development as primary objectives of the United Nations.
The Australian Government’s approach is set out in its own Human Rights Manual for its diplomatic officers, as follows:
The Government views human rights as an inseparable part of Australia’s overall foreign policy approach, both because the treatment of individuals is of itself a matter of concern to Australians and because promoting and protecting human rights underpins Australia’s broader security and economic interests.
Australia has fought in both World Wars, in the Korean War, in the Malayan War, in the Vietnam War and in both Iraq Wars. Australia had troops in Somalia and provided medical support in Rwanda. We currently have troops serving in Iraq, the Solomon Islands, East Timor and Israel.
After the Tiananmen massacre we took in thousands of Chinese political refugees.
I would have thought that in a country as democratic and free as my own, with a demonstrated commitment to human rights and democracy globally, that a commitment to democracy in China would follow naturally.
This has not been the case.
CHINA’S ECONOMIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS BACKGROUND
Former US President Franklin Roosevelt spoke of “freedom from want,” “freedom from fear,” “freedom of speech,” and “freedom of religion,” and the United Nation’s charter speaks of “larger freedom.”
Yet the people of China go without. They live in fear of their government and lack many basic freedoms that Australians take for granted.
In a recent United Nations Report covering human rights in China it was acknowledged that in the first two years of communist rule, approximately two million people were executed for exercising their religious freedom. Today, extra-judicial killing, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention without public trial continue unabated throughout China.
According to the US State Department’s 2006 Country Report on China, “Tens of thousands of political prisoners remained incarcerated, some in prisons and others in re-education through labour camps and other forms of administrative detention. The government did not grant international humanitarian organizations access to political prisoners.”
In recent decades, China has integrated into the world economy. However, even with a gross domestic product that has more than quadrupled since the 1980s, individual and democratic freedom has remained largely unchanged in the People’s Republic of China.
While Beijing’s economic and foreign relations are claimed to be driven by capitalist ideology, its domestic and political policies continue to pursue the communist legacy.
Another former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, once stated that stability and democracy cannot be purchased with political repression.
I agree.
The best way to ensure economic and political stability is through individual democracy and domestic accord.
FREE TRADE AND A FREE ECONOMY
The Australian Government is in the process of negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with China following a feasibility study that showed economic benefit to both nations.
China is one of Australia’s fastest growing major export markets and is now our second largest export destination. There is political and business pressure in support of a bilateral free trade agreement. Indeed, last month, China and Australia agreed to accelerate the Free Trade negotiations in a bid to seal the agreement within two years.
The bipartisan political commitment was expressed by the Prime Minster Prime Minister John Howard, in Beijing in April 2005 where he said, “It will be a very complex negotiation, but it will be approached by Australia in a positive frame of mind and with great energy and commitment.”
As a liberal, I believe that free trade is a positive step toward the democratisation of China.
Globalisation of communications and the strengthening the global trading system is one of the key means of fostering democracy around the world. Increasingly, developing nations around the world are reaping the benefits of trade liberalisation and policies of privatisation and de-regulation.
In bringing about prosperity through trade liberalisation and reducing the economic power of the State, a nation’s individual and democratic freedom should increase.
AUSTRALIA’S FREE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHINA
Despite Australia’s record of commitment to human rights mentioned above, in its free trade negotiations with China, Australia’s major political parties are turning a blind eye to Chinese atrocities.
Australia separates trade and human rights discourse with China, maintaining discussion of human rights issues via the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue that began in 1997.
This does not go far enough and is not transparent.
We should not sacrifice our commitment to human rights in the interests of trade with China. We have risked our soldiers and civilians in pursuit of democracy in Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor and I believe we should be consistent in our relationship with China.
The reality is that our country will engage in closer economic ties with China, as will most Western democracies. The challenge for us all is how to balance this economic engagement through free trade with a commitment to achieving human freedom and democracy.
Free trade should be accompanied by a commitment to democratic freedom and the full moral support of the West.
Australia tends to underestimate its capacity to have its values and views prevail. We also tend to underestimate how much China wants to be accepted by the western developed world and that China wants a Free Trade Agreement with Australia more than we necessarily want one with China.
The challenge for Australia and other western democracies is to formulate an agreement with the People’s Republic through which we can voice concerns about China’s record on human rights, trade and security and maintain a strong relationship.
Perhaps a labour standards clause or a transparency clause can be the lever to strengthen Australia’s scrutiny of China’s authoritarian practices and could also provide a lever for free and unfettered access by international human rights agencies to prisoners and trials processes.
In any event, we should use the leverage provided by the FTA discussions to upgrade our dialogue on human rights to include a public process and public scrutiny of the dialogue. This should be a campaign we can start at this conference.
PUBLIC IGNORANCE AND APATHY
I think the major obstacle facing the development of more vigorous support for the Chinese democracy movement is the ignorance and complacency in relation to China that is prevalent in countries like Australia.
The Australian general public is very fond of Chinese cuisine, customs and the New Year Festival that is celebrated in all the major Australian cities.
However despite the extensive coverage of the Tiananmen standoff and massacre and the resultant influx of many Chinese political refugees, it is my perception that there is a very low consciousness of the extent of suppression and oppression of the Chinese population. Whilst there is media coverage of Google and Yahoo’s submission to the Chinese Government’s demands for political censorship of the web, it does not translate to political action.
Australia enjoys a stable democracy, a free society, governments rise and fall and the transfer of power is non-violent. What is interesting is that many Australians take this situation of freedom and democracy as the norm and do not understand that this is not the situation in China.
For example I was recently speaking with an Australian businessman who imports from China who was unaware that the Chinese political system was any different from our own.
Falun Gong representatives have told me of their surprise as to how few of my parliamentary colleagues knew of the scale of the oppression of religious practice in China. They are surprised that people are arrested for being a part of a meditation movement.
Even a politically aware tourist will be unlikely to actually see any oppression or violation of human rights while sightseeing in China.
The political inertia of so many Australians, Americans and Western Europeans is an obstacle that needs to be overcome if the movement for Chinese and wider Asian democracy is to advance.
I think that a key contributor to this culture of ignorance and complacency is the pre-dominance of post-modernism in the West in general and in the Australian school curriculum in particular. This has been compounded by the downgrading of the teaching of history in secondary schools and Universities that means that our children are not being taught about the history of communism and the human rights atrocities under those regimes.
HOW TO ACCELERATE THE PROCESS OF DEMOCRATISATION: THE WAY FORWARD
While some say democracy will eventually prevail globally, the British economist John Maynard Keynes said: “In the long run we are all dead.”
If we want to improve the lives of the living we need to proactively fight for democracy and freedom now.
I think there is a slow but perceptible shift in community awareness.
I agree with Herr Martin Lessenthin of the International Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte who stated last year that “the revolution is on its way.”
An important strategy in terms of harnessing support for the democracy movement is education of the community and grass roots activity.
On this front, the situation is not totally bleak.
For example in the Non-Government Organisation (NGO) sector positive things are happening such as Amnesty International Australia’s Asia Pacific Working Group which focuses on human rights issues in the Asia Pacific region including China.
Another example is the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s, an independent organisation with strong Anglican and community links, which has a working group on “Labour standards” in China. The Brotherhood of St Laurence established the Ethical Business Unit to guide the practices of our social and community enterprises and ensure they are not only commercially viable but operate within an ethical framework.
Another example is the Free China organisation, which was established in 2005 to raise awareness of the problems directly created by the Chinese Community Party with a focus on the issues of human rights. Free China recently organised a march through the City of Melbourne to raise awareness of ongoing human rights abuses in China. The march was well attended by representatives from the Australian Tibet Council, Falun Gong, Quit CCP Service Centre and Chinese democracy groups and their supporters and received national news coverage.
The Human Rights Council of Australia in their submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Reference Senate Committee’s March 2006 report China’s Emergence: Implications for Australia concluded that China has taken some positive steps in terms of improving human rights.
Most of these steps, however, were taken reactively and coincided with possible condemnation in public international forums such as the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Thee Human Rights Council argues that “This demonstrates that international pressure is essential to bring about change.”
This in turn warrants the development of a strategy for the promotion of human rights in China by the Australian government: “The Government, in collaboration with China experts and NGOs, should formulate a clear human rights strategy that includes judicious use of forms of international pressure.”
In the workshops at this conference, I will be suggesting that we produce more easy to understand educational materials on the history of oppression and current issues of human rights violations in China. We need to use web-based materials and email more extensively. Multimedia and humour can be used to harness public opinion. Hotel Rwanda, a film produced some ten years after the genocide, has again raised public consciousness and a desire to help in the rebuilding of that society.
The Olympic Games in 2008 will further focus attention on Beijing and will provide a platform to highlight the underlying nature of this oppressive society.
CONCLUSION
The hard questions need to be asked.
Have western democracies consistently urged China to release Tibetan monks and nuns being tortured in prison for voicing their support for their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama? No!
Have western democracies consistently urged China to respect the ‘right to worship’ for followers of Falun Gong and not imprison them unjustly in labour camps? No!
And, just as importantly, have western democracies taken the time to check whether the products bought from China and stocked on department store shelves are made under forced labour in its prison camps? The answer again is NO!
The challenge at the heart of the fight for democracy is “not whether we have the power to change the world but whether we have the will.”
I would like to reply to this challenge with the words of the former US Attorney–General, Robert Kennedy, who said in 1966:
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal,
or acts to improve the lot of others,
or strikes out against injustice
he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope
and crossing each other from a million
different centres of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current that can
sweep down the mightiest walls of
oppression and resistance."
In conclusion I would like to cite Edward Kennedy’s tribute to Senator Robert F Kennedy in his eulogy when he said: “Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”
Our journey from today is the pursuit of a more democratic world.
Thank you
