Thirty-five years ago, the best chance at democratization in China in decades faded quickly when the powerful Tiananmen Square prodemocracy movement was brutally suppressed.
Hu Ping, a leading Chinese dissident, reflects on the mistakes that were made and what it will take to succeed next time.
“Since 2012, with the arrival of Xi Jinping as supreme leader and with new high-tech surveillance technology in his hands, repression has grown even stronger. The authorities are seizing every opportunity to patch their vulnerabilities and press on,” Hu says.
“Still, their control cannot be flawless; there still are crevices within which an opposition can survive. The appearance of the White Paper Movement shows as much. The key issue that remains is that the number of participants is low. We need to build confidence in nonviolent resistance.”
Interesting discussion. ‘Quit while ahead’ sounds obvious with hindsight, but who can say when a peak has been reached during events, and who, in such movements, would have the authority to impose that on others ? What could China learn from other countries ? For example, rapid student-led change in Bangladesh recently.