China’s switch to capitalism does not change its attitude

China is an economic powerhouse, as evidenced by the $1.5 trillion it owns in U.S. Treasury bills and the impending purchase by a Chinese company of General Motors’ Hummer gas-guzzlers, yet it remains in the political dark ages.

It is ironic that the dictators in Beijing who have encouraged their 1.3 billion citizens to embrace western-style capitalism see no need to grant them all the freedoms that come with the system.

The regime had the opportunity Thursday, on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square bloody crackdown on pro-democracy activists, to show the world that real change had come to China, Instead, police ringed the square, foreign journalists were barred from the area, and security officials blocked TV camera operators and photographers from covering the raising of China’s national flag. That occurs at dawn every day.

Government censors shut down social networking and image-sharing Web sites such as Twitter and Flickr. They also blacked out CNN when it aired stories on Tiananmen. Dissidents were confined to their homes or forced to leave Beijing, part of sweeping efforts to prevent online debate on organized commemorations of the anniversary.

The hard line taken by the government stands in stark contrast to the announcement earlier in the week that Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, based in Chengdu, was buying the Hummer division of GM. The deal is expected to close later this year. It would make Tenghong the first Chinese company to sell vehicles in the United States. Hummer’s operations would remain in the U.S.

The irony of the two events this week can be found in the following statement from Yang Yi, the chief executive of Tengzhong:

“The Hummer brand is synonymous with adventure, freedom and exhilaration, and we plan to continue that heritage by investing in the business, allowing Hummer to innovate and grow in exciting new ways under the leadership and continuity of its current management team,”

Freedom and exhilaration certainly aren’t words that would describe what occurred Thursday in Beijing.

Iron fist

So, while China was flexing its economic muscle and serving notice to the world that it intends to be a major player in the automotive industry, it also was using an iron fist to keep its citizens and foreigners in line.

Indeed, the government’s refusal to permit any public commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre and other pro-democracy protests in which thousands of students, activists and ordinary citizens were killed simply served to highlight the dictatorial attitude of the rulers.

It is noteworthy that the second most-wanted student leader from 1989 said he had been denied entry to the southern Chinese territory of Macau.

Wu’er Kaixi has been in exile in Taiwan since fleeing China after the crackdown. He traveled to Macau to turn himself in to authorities in a bid to return home.

Twenty years ago, Wu’er gained international fame as a pajama-clad hunger striker yelling at then premier Li Peng at a televised meeting during the protests.

Perhaps in 10 years the Chinese will have become sufficiently Americanized as a result of their involvement in the auto industry to permit a public commemoration of an important event in the history of the nation.