08/02/2001

In censoring an interview with Secretary of State Colin Powell, The Chinese government demonstrated that of all the things it fears, it may dread the free exchange of ideas most.

Powell was interviewed by the state television station CCTV when he was in China last week. Despite an agreement to air the interview in its entirety, his comments on human rights and Taiwan (roughly 20 percent of the interview) were edited out of the broadcast version.

Powell went out of his way to set forth U.S. positions diplomatically. In defending our criticism of China's human rights record, he observed, "We think it's important for us to point out where improvements are appropriate," as if he were some sort of global efficiency expert.

On Taiwan, Powell was more candid, pointing out that the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act obliges the United States to provide the island with the means of defense.

The censorship will not go unnoticed, even though Beijing tries to keep news of events like that from reaching its citizens. Governments in the region will note that the Chinese government has no technicality on which to base a claim that it hadn't really broken a promise. Powell should take note of what a Chinese government promise is worth.

In a way, the act of censorship was instructive. Had Powell been Chinese and expressed these views, he would likely have been arrested and imprisoned for heaven knows how long. Consider the treatment of Falun Gong demonstrators protesting the suppression of their meditation movement.

The students killed in Tiananmen Square were also engaging in self- expression. Like Powell, they were saying: Change must come. And someday it will.