By Kowtowing to China We Simply Betray Its People ; As Our Leaders Congratulate China On Its 60th Anniversary, One Expert Warns Against Its Regime's Unchanged Record [Edition 2]

Summary

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TODAY's 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China sees huge celebrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the world's largest man-made space. Tiananmen was also the scene of a massacre on the night of 3-4 June 1989, where hundreds died -- and must not be mentioned in China. When official Chinese spokesmen mention Tiananmen at all, the night of 3-4 June is called "the incident" or the "events". President Jiang Zemin, China's last president, called it "much ado about nothing".

Here's something that would surprise even George Orwell. Go to your computer and tap in the address "Google. cn" -- then search for "Tiananmen". Don't forget the cn. You will see a stream of articles about the march and air force fly-pasts today and the weather forecast. You will see children flying kites in the square. Now tap in "Tiananmen" into the British Google site -- no cn. There is a Wikipedia article on the massacre along with the most famous picture from Tiananmen: the man standing alone in front of a couple of tanks. That man has vanished. We don't know his name. When asked, Chinese officials say: "He is where he is supposed to be."

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By Kowtowing to China We Simply Betray Its People ; As Our Leaders Congratulate China On Its 60th Anniversary, One Expert Warns Against Its Regime's Unchanged Record [Edition 2]

This is the old China wrapped in the new one. Certain words and ideas are taboo and dangerous. If you tap in "Tiananmen", "Dalai Lama", "democracy" or "Taiwan" in the wrong context in China, soon there will be a knock on your door and perhaps detention. How do the Ch...

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