The Republican, MA: Real life lesson ahead for China's president

Saturday, April 29, 2006

EDITORIALS

Chinese President Hu Jintao got a lesson in democracy from President Bush during his visit to Washington earlier this month.

Bush told Hu that China must expand freedoms to assemble, speak freely and to worship.

"We can be candid about our disagreements," Bush said. "I'll continue to discuss with President Hu the importance of respecting human rights and the freedoms of the Chinese people."

On Wednesday, the protester who disrupted the White House lawn ceremony for Hu will appear in court to answer charges that her outburst amounted to a threat, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Wenyi Wang, a doctor who lives in New York and a member of Falun Gong, a religious [group] that is suppressed in China, disrupted the ceremony when she repeatedly shouted such slogans as "President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong."

Later, when they were in the Oval Office together, Bush apologized to Hu.

China will watch this case very carefully, and it has already urged the U.S. to punish her. Bush, as Hu's host at the White House, was right to apologize for the rude interruption, but he should not apologize for America. Here in America, justice is not stamped, "Made in China." In America, we value protest and free speech.

There is an old Chinese proverb: "Follow the local custom when you go to a foreign place." Instead, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, told reporters that such demonstrations threaten relations between the two nations.

China doesn't recognize protest. In February, just weeks ahead of Hu's visit to Washington, China freed a man who had spent nearly 17 years in jail for throwing paint on a portrait of Mao Zedong during pro-democracy protests in 1989.

Bush did the right thing when he raised China's poor record on human rights during his meetings with Hu, but his words will lose credibility if Wenyi Wang is sent to jail for her one-woman protest on the White House lawn.

In this country, it is not a crime to criticize the president of the United States. It might help persuade China to improve its record on human rights if it is also not a crime in the U.S. to criticize the leader of another country.

Hu should get another lesson on democracy on Wednesday when Wang appears in court.

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