A few days ago, an elderly Chinese gentleman in New York was injured in a tussle with New York police officers, who detained the man for jaywalking. According to this editorial from the state-run Huanqiu, the fact that Chinese public opinion sides with New York police in this case, and that in similar circumstances, Chinese police would be condemned, highlights a troubling lack of self-esteem on the part of Chinese, and ironically, a tendency to favor emotion over the rule of law. Reading between the lines, which is a necessity when reading China’s state-run media, the article illustrates not the good-conduct of the New York police, but the suspicion with which Chinese have for their own law enforcement, which is in turn an indictment of the legitimacy of the central government in Beijing.
The Huanqiu editorial starts out this way:
An 84-year-old man named Kang Wong was allegedly beaten and injured for jaywalking by New York police last Sunday. The language barrier probably played a role. The elderly gentleman, who has a Chinese background, spoke no English. He got into a tussle with several police officers, and was subdued by violent means. The episode has become an issue in both countries.
After ABC NEWS reported on the matter, police stressed that jaywalkers were being targeted in the area, where three people were struck and killed by cars disregarding traffic lights over the previous nine days. A poll conducted by Sina.com, a popular Chinese portal, showed that 31 percent said “if he was arrested after breaking traffic rules, the police did the right thing,” which was the most agreed upon answer.
However, many people have asked: If such a thing were to happen in China – an octogenarian was wounded by police for crossing a street against a red light – how would the public react then? The question is easy to answer: the public would condemn law enforcement for police brutality. Furthermore, the Public Security Bureau would be charged with abuse of power, the chief of police would be forced to apologize, and the problematic officers punished or even sacked.
This analysis is quite accurate. When it comes to law enforcement in the U.S. and China, the Chinese people often use different standards when making value judgments. Given the same circumstances, the public would say that the American police acted correctly, whereas Chinese police acted incorrectly. We often criticize the United States for employing “double standards” when it comes to China, yet in fact, in this case, when comparing police in China and America, we ourselves are unconsciously doing the same thing.
“This is America worship in the extreme!,” someone said resentfully. While that is certainly somewhat true, it is not that simple. Further expanding upon the causes behind this, we find that due to a lack of authority on the part of Chinese law enforcement, traffic violations on China’s roads have become commonplace, which reinforces this double-standard mindset, even to the point of self-denigration.
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