John's Response # 2

"John,

Who told you told that China will necessarily splinter if free speech and democracy are introduced?"

This is my feelings, and also what the Chinese citizens who lived in China felt.
There is free speech on anything, everything but ONLY NOT ON ANYTHING THAT HARM THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY.

"The Party in government of course. Dictatorial governments that are in power not
by popular will but that maintain their rule by force always use fear to keep in power. It's a classic trick -- you should read some history, history teaches us a lot because human beings are always essentially the same. You mentioned Nazi Germany in your response as an example of how all countries make mistakes sometimes -- not only sometimes, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust happened because the German people accepted a dictatorship that decided everything without democracy."

I am not against dictator type of government. It can be efficient and good. Singapore , a very small country, did very well. The president Mr Lee, governed the country for 30 years, was called the father of Singapore . There is continuity, and the development becomes efficient. Imagine if different rulers, things change every few years.
I am not criticising the democratic type of system. But that is something westerners think the right way because they practice it. In China , this is not necessarily the way people see it. Indeed I do not want this type of democracy government in China . The current government is democratic enough in my view, there is continuity. I am a fan to the democracy system especially if the country is poor, and personally I don¡¦t like it to the extent as a westerner. I never vote in the last 18 years in the UK , even I am eligible to. I don¡¦t feel comfortable with this system. When I get any voting paper, I put them into the bin for the last 18 years. (Sorry I hope I will not offend you, this is not what I am comfortable with, so are the rest of many 120,000,000,0 people in china. It¡¦s like you are comfortable with the european democratic system, not the Chinese system¡K.and I am not comfortable with the European system, so I put all the voting paper in the bin in the last 18 years, whatever any elections¡Keven housing association, hospital chairman¡K.etc!)

"Same as in the China of Mao and the Communist Party. And just like the Chinese Communist Party the Nazi Party also used fear to make people believe they needed a strong dictatorial government:
-- they said the country will break down because all of Europe wants to split Germany in many countries, because it's too powerful and big
-- they said intellectuals, people who want to speak their opinions will destroy the country
-- they said what we need is total unity and progress, to have a strong Germany
Funny isn't it, how it sounds just like what the CCP says?
These are classic fear techniques that any dictatorship uses to justify its being in power.
The Party told you -- China you fall apart if we have free speech and democracy -- you tell me China is too big and poor, it wouldn't work here. That just works in smaller and rich countries. How about India ? India is only slightly smaller than China, it has 1.12 billion people, it is as poor or in many places poorer than China, it has more ethnic and language groups than in China so is supposedly less homogenous, has lots of foreign investment there to protect and development to promote -- and yet, lo and behold it has a fully functioning democracy and has had for decades. Now why is China any different?"

Because the so called democratic system is flawed. People will pick the person who will give them money. It looks democratic superficially.

In Thailand , the ousted PM, Thakin Shinawatra, he got all the votes from the poor people from the countryside. You know what¡K because he creates a policy that these poor people get more¡Kyes maybe good to the coutry, but he gets all the votes from the coutryside, little votes from citypeople¡K. But overall he won¡Kso many people are unhappy, kick him out of the country¡K.

Also remember there are many systems¡K. Ways ¡K

China will develop its own ¡¥democractic¡¦ system that is agreeable to the country and people there. Westerners, using their experience will never be able to appreciate it because of difference in culture. It¡¦s like I can never understand why people circumcise if they are jewish or Moslem. But a Moslem who is not circumcised may feel very uncomfortable, may feel unclean¡K.etc but that is their culture. If I do not have the culture, Iwill never understand BUT WILL NEVER impose my feelings on them.


John