Fang Lizhi and Freedom (China's Andrei Sakharov dies - inspired Tiananmen Square demonstrations)

Wall Street Journal ^ | April 8, 2012 | WSJ

[Zhang Fei]

In retrospect, Fang may seem naive in his call for democracy. Over three decades Mao Zedong had crushed independent thought through political campaigns that claimed millions of lives. Fang himself only avoided prison because of the force of his personality, his scientific accomplishments and the political ferment in 1980s China.

Yet he was right to see an opening for self-government. During that remarkable time, the Communist Party was so desperate to modernize that Fang was given a platform to undertake educational reform at the University of Science and Technology, where he became vice president. The dream of socialism was dead, and young Chinese, raised on Party propaganda, were searching for a new source of idealism. Fang directed them toward the classical liberal values of the 1919 May Fourth movement, which rallied behind two imported words, science and democracy.

[Zhang Fei]

If China ever rids itself of the communist pestilence that has ailed it for the past 60 years, Fang will probably be remembered as the man who took the first baby steps towards making it happen.

[the invisib1e hand]

Fang Lizzie

That's one very rich name!

[mojito]

I was sorry to hear of his passing. A great man. RIP.

[darrellmaurina]

Thank you for posting this.

[JRandomFreeper]

If China ever rids itself of the communist pestilence that has ailed it for the past 60 years........I'll be speaking Mandarin soon thereafter.

Lots of respect for the people, and the food, and the sheer grit of surviving everything from Chin to Mao. Give those people freedom, and we'll be exploring the stars before the worms eat me.

/johnny

[ponder life]

If China ever rids itself of the communist pestilence that has ailed it for the past 60 years, Fang will probably be remembered as the man who took the first baby steps towards making it happen.

Democracy will come to China someday. But the road they are taking now, stability with economic growth, is necessary for now. I would rather see the path China is going through now than a potential break up of and a chaotic Haiti style democracy.

When China does become a democracy, the bulk of the world's shipping lanes will lead to China. As well as the highways and railways of the Asian land mass. This can only be made possible with political and economic stability.

[darrellmaurina]

Please pay close attention to what Ponder Life writes about China’s geographic role. He’s right.

Especially with the way Western culture is collapsing, we need to pay a great deal of attention to the rise of China. As a Christian I do not believe God blesses nations which deliberately and repeatedly choose wickedness. Even if I didn’t believe that, simply as a student of practical politics, China’s power is not likely to decrease anytime soon, while our economy has been saddled with a crushing debt that seriously impedes our future in many ways.

[ponder life]

Thanks for the endorsement :)

[darrellmaurina]

Thanks for the thanks.

FWIW, I heard Ronald Reagan's national security adviser discussing China today, and also heard our congresswoman, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, discussing China. This is not a minor issue to the American defense community.

Hopefully in a generation we'll be discussing mutual defense against Islamofascism, including Uighur terrorism against China, rather than discussing peer-level warfare. Neither China nor the United States needs that. We have a common enemy and shouldn't be fighting each other.

[ponder life]

I totally agree. We have a common enemy in the world. And that someday, the US and China will become allies. And a future generation of Americans will be willing to see China as a peer.

[darrellmaurina]

Agreed, Ponder Life... and some of us realize even today that China is today the only nation which can pose a serious peer-level military threat to the United States.

We can either deal with China economically by way of trade and bringing it into the family of nations, or deal with it down the road in a very different way that nobody wants. Our economy is in serious trouble; China's economy is growing and probably can grow independently of ours if necessary, though the growth will be slower.

That's not a pattern either Americans or Chinese should ignore.

[ponder life]

I totally agree. China, in the long run, is the only nation on earth that is a peer to the US, economically and militarily. And it is better to bring China on board rather than have her sit at the opposite end of the table.

I do believe, as a whole, that is what the US is doing, bringing China into the family of nations. And for the most part, I don't have any complaints in how the US is handling US-China relations. The people I get upset with, are the Duncan Hunters, Donald Trumps, Lou Dobbs, etc. They are the ones, and many who support them, who want to rock the boat between the US and China.

And in a way a old school way, I can understand it. I don't agree with it, but understand it. If my ultimately goal was to ensure an enduring Pax Americana at all cost, then, it is best to confront China for any reason, while she still not a peer to the US. Even if it means war. And honestly, I believe many who are hawkish about China would rather wage a war instead of bringing China into the family of nations.