China's paranoia targets all dissent, even T-shirts and books

Such Orwellian control was evidenced by the first convictions handed out under Hong Kong's draconian Article 23 national security legislation. On 19-20 September, three Hong Kong citizens were imprisoned for perceived slights against the Hong Kong government, and thus to the powerful but extremely paranoid Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Chu Kai-pong was sentenced to 14 months in prison, Chung Man-kit for 10 months and Au Kin-wai for 14 months. They were accused of "doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention" under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, better known as Article 23.

Chu's crime was wearing a T-shirt with the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times." Chung pleaded guilty to graffiti written on seatbacks on a bus, messages like "Hong Kong independence, the only way out." Meanwhile, Au's crime was posting on social media the slogan "Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified," words that ironically date from the Cultural Revolution.

Such "boldly seditious" actions, although laughingly innocuous in any thriving Western democracy, are anathema to the CCP. It cannot tolerate resistance to or criticism of its authority. It purports to be a mighty edifice, yet it trembles at words emblazoned on a single T-shirt or chalked on the back of bus seats.

After the sentence was handed down, the territory's government stated, "Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law, where laws must be obeyed and lawbreakers be held accountable. People who break the law must face legal sanctions for their malicious acts." It said Chu, by wearing his T-shirt, intended to cause hatred of the government and law enforcement agencies, thus causing "social rift and division."

The Human Rights Foundation roundly castigated the convictions, saying, "HRF condemns the Hong Kong government for using vaguely written laws backed by Beijing to escalate a climate of fear, and calls officials to drop all charges and immediately release Chu Kai-pong."

Article 23--which hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong protestors took to the streets to prevent in the 2010s--targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. Under this deeply unpopular law passed on 23 March, suspects can be detained for 16 days without charge, access to lawyers restricted, cases adjudicated by a government-picked judge, and sentences can extend to life imprisonment.

Currently, 14 people in Hong Kong have been arrested under Article 23, all for alleged sedition. Under the Hong Kong National Security Law earlier enacted on 30 June 2020, the police had arrested 303 people as of 1 September. The police also actively encourage informants to denounce any person or reference they deem "subversive."

In 2022, there were more than 40,000 tipoffs. Many young people in China have no idea what happened in the heart of Beijing on 4 June 1989, and the Hong Kong government is attempting to suppress the truth of the massacre too. Hong Kong banned annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, ostensibly on anti-epidemic grounds, from 2021 onwards.

The event can no longer be commemorated--even holding a candle, bouquet of flowers orhandwritten poster is now a detainable offence.

Remember Xi's "common destiny" mentioned earlier? The phrase simply refers to the CCP's utopian vision of the future, where the rest of the world recognises Chinese wisdom and bends to its will. This umbrella term encompasses all of China's grand ambitions, such as Belt and Road and the Global Civilisation Initiative, where Beijing writes the rules and everyone accedes to them.

Indeed, great care must be taken to correctly parse the true meaning of China's well-worn epithets. "Win-win cooperation," for example, actually means cooperation that advances Beijing's agenda and narrative. Under "win-win cooperation," foreign counterparts are promised deliverables that benefit China the most, sound better than reality, or fail to materialise. China also speaks of "harmony" and creating a "harmonious society," yet this should be interpreted to mean everyone must act according to CCP dictates and dissent be suppressed.

And this is precisely what is occurring in China and Hong Kong. The governments are attempting to create "harmony" by suppressing criticism. This is, of course, the way of all authoritarian regimes. However, China is obviously not the utopia it is cracked up to be, as, last year, China experienced its largest-ever outflow of high-net-worth individuals.

There was a record exodus of 15,200 wealthy individuals in 2024, as they fear theirwealth will be appropriated by the government.

This desire for absolute control over people's loyalty and minds is also reflected in the CCP's strict supervision of all reading matter online or in books. China's internet firewall is legendary, but it also controls other reading matters too.

Hundreds of books were removed from Hong Kong public libraries last year, as the relevant government department and audit office advised them to eliminate anything that might run afoul of the National Security Law. Topics such as 1989's Tiananmen Square killings and 2014 umbrella movement were culled, and some 250 book titles disappeared from the library catalog. This was three times as many books as were banned in 2021.

Searches on library catalogs for topics such as "Tiananmen Incident" returned zeromatches. One newspaper report estimated that 468 books had been rooted out of publiclibraries since late 2020.

Perhaps the most famous book burnings was undertaken by the Nazis on 10 May 1933. Then, books deemed "un-German" were burned, such as those written by socialists, communists, critics of the Nazi regime, Jewish authors and even Western writers like Ernest Hemingway. It was all part of the Nazi philosophy of aligning art and culture with the movement's goals, which is no different than what is happening in China and Hong Kong.

China is tightening access to books. In the Cultural Revolution, the CCP considered any foreign book a "poisonous weed that promotes the bourgeois lifestyle." Today, books about recent Chinese history, scoops on political leaders, are all taboo.

Furthermore, around 20 party officials were recently accused of "privately possessing and reading banned books and periodicals," according to state media reports.

Senior officials have traditionally had more leeway in reading material denied to the masses, but no more. Monitoring what people read is a symptom of the CCP's megalomania and authoritarian fragility. Xi wants to turn CCP members into a menagerie of marionettes capable only of agreeing with himself, and eliminating any challenge to his authority.

The result will be senior cadres with less imagination, narrower vision, less exposure to complex considerations, and zero understanding of foreign stances. In effect, the CCP is discriminating against critical thinking. Zhejiang provincial Vice Governor Zhu Congjiu, for instance, was accused of losing his way ideologically, because he "privately brought banned books into the country and read them over a long period of time."

Article 47 of 2003 regulations says, "Anyone who brings reactionary books, audiovisual products, electronic reading materials and so on into the country from abroad shall be criticised and educated; if the circumstances are serious, they will be given a warning or serious warning; more serious offences will be disciplined by removal from party post, probation or expulsion from the party." Rules have been updated three times since 2015, and now include "reading privately, browsing or listening" to banned material such as "online text, images and audiovisual material."

Although the CCP would say it is rooting out "reactionary material," in reality it is suppressing the truth. The CCP does not wish the rank and file to know the truth, because that would shake the foundations of its own legitimacy.

Unsurprisingly, the government tightly controls those textbooks used in Chinese schools too. Materials from overseas are banned outright in primary and secondary schools for students up to 16 years of age, and local textbooks must be cleared by the National Teaching Materials Committee under the State Council. Naturally, they must support and promote the "spirit of Xi Jinping Thought," since regulations state, "Teaching materials in primary and secondary schools must reflect the will of the party and the state." Nor can schools develop their own materials; they must be sourced from nationally approved materials.

Does this sound like brainwashing? Absolutely, since the CCP is seeking to instill ideological purity from infancy onwards. The party alone must define its version of knowledge and truth, which of course seriously varies from knowledge in the rest of the world.

This alternative form of "truth" is also witnessed in Xi's elevation of the role of Han Chinese, as it incrementally erases the cultures and homelands of ethnic minorities like Uyghurs, Tibetans and Mongols. A new 337-page textbook published in February--called An Introduction to the Community of the Zhonghua Race--is compulsory for Chinese university students.

This textbook warns against the traditional evil forces of terrorism, extremism and separatism from outside China, but also "ideological misunderstandings" and "erroneous views" inside the country. Writing for The Jamestown Foundation, Professor James Leibold of La Trobe University in Australia said, "The ideas presented in the textbook represent a fundamental retreat from a previous approach to ethnic governance, from a paradigm of 'communist multiculturalism' towards Han-centric cultural and racial nationalism."

Leibold further warned: "By distorting past promises, policies and histories, [this] textbook seeks to reconstruct a myth of Han-centrism, one that renders the now-hollow guarantee of minority rights in the PRC Constitution and Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, a mere ornamental fig leaf for Han settler colonialism and indigenous dispossession in once sovereign homelands. Today, there is only one master in the house-Xi Jinping, the chairman of a new Han empire."

Such methods of asserting total control over the populace's minds align with Xi's desire to resurrect and promote the Mao era. All Western influences must be expunged, and all must bow the knee to party authority in every aspect of life.

Categories of people particularly loathed by the CCP are human rights lawyers, autonomous labor groups, non-governmental organisations, religious movements like Falun Gong, and underground churches. Xi repeatedly stresses the need for the rule of law, but by that he means all must submit to the rules and laws he imposes.

The latest Asia Power index, published annually by the Lowy Institute in Australia, gavethe USA a score of 81.7 out of 100, and 72.7 for China. These figures reflect eight measures of power and influence that are calculated via a weighted average: a nation's economic capability, military capability, resilience, future resources, economic relationships, defence networks, diplomatic influence and cultural influence.

The scores of both the USA and China rose this year, while the next middle powers of India (39.1), Japan (28.9) and Australia (31.9) trailed significantly behind the top two.

The Asia Power index stated, "China's power is plateauing at a level below that of the United States, but still well above any Asian competitors. China has experienced slower economic growth, and its economic influence in the region is no longer surging, yet itretains the top ranking for diplomatic influence."

Undoubtedly, China is powerful and influential. However, it is a brutal and authoritarian regime promoting an illiberal alternative to the universal values espoused by Western democracies. Phrases like Xi's "community with a shared future for humanity" have nothing to do with reaching consensus with the rest of the world and subscribing to a shared set of values. No, China is intent on molding the rest of the world in its own image.

One only needs to look at Hong Kong to see how freedoms of speech and thought are being legislated against and suppressed. (ANI)