Lest you think that political hypocrisy is the exclusive characteristic of America’s two political parties, think again. China, which most assuredly is not a fan of whistleblowers, is welcoming the whislteblowing of Edward Snowden. The Hindu’s Anath Krishnan:
The opinion writers at China’s state media outlets haven’t been known to be the biggest fans of whistleblowers.
When, earlier this year, a spate of corruption scandals — many unearthed by intrepid bloggers wielding the new-found power of Chinese social media websites — rocked the Communist Party, several official media outlets cautioned against the dangers of ‘rumour mongering,’ although the leadership, confronted by angry public opinion, was forced to sack officials to placate the tide of online anger.
And, when several of those bloggers and activists were subsequently silenced, there was barely a murmur of protest in the State media.
However, when a 29-year-old American whistleblower surfaced in Hong Kong last week, the party’s mouthpieces welcomed him with open arms. “Whistleblower welcome in China,” ran one headline on the English-language website of the People’s Daily, the party’s official newspaper.
It isn’t surprising that the revelations of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, have been welcomed in China. For months, Beijing has been chafing at accusations from Washington that the Chinese were mounting a widespread hacking campaign against government agencies and enterprises in the U.S.
Snowden’s revelations this week included new details of the U.S. hacking into servers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland. In an interview with the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, Snowden said the U.S. had been carrying out such activities “for years.” He reportedly even shared details of IP addresses in Hong Kong and China that the U.S. had targeted.
“What has happened recently,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in response to the revelations, “has shown that China is indeed one of the major victims of cyberattacks.”
In a not-too-subtle dig at the U.S., she added: “What cyberspace needs is not war or hegemony, not irresponsible attacks or accusations, but regulation and cooperation.”
What does China do with its whistleblowers?
The irony of a usually hard-line party mouthpiece calling for support to whistleblowers was not lost on many Chinese bloggers.
Beyond the official media’s unquestionable sense of schadenfreude at Washington’s predicament, the Snowden case has also shed light on the rising number of Chinese who are waging similar battles for transparency.
“When would China have its own Snowden?” was a common question on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese Twitter equivalent used by 300 million Chinese.
It is clear that like Snowden, a growing number of technologically savvy young Chinese are using the power of the Internet to bring about greater political accountability.
AND:
A pledge from the new President, Xi Jinping, that he would swat both “tigers and flies” to fight corruption energised activists like Zhu. But in recent weeks and months, the leadership has shown that it is more wary, rather than welcoming, of people like Zhu by quietly silencing whistleblowers.
Since March 15, activists who were calling on officials to publicly declare their assets have been detained on charges including “illegal assembly” and “inciting subversion of State power.”
Nine activists in Beijing and one in southern Jiangxi have been arrested, while four others are yet to be formally charged, according to Human Rights Watch. Journalist Hou Xin, securities trader Yuan Dong and retiree Zhang Baocheng were detained after unfurling banners in Beijing, calling on officials to publicly disclose their assets.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ruifeng has received visits from police in his modest Beijing apartment. He has since slowed down his whistle-blowing activities, although he has pledged that his work remains unfinished.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.