The Al Jazeera commentator started by saying that relations between China and the West are complex not least by the way the West views China’s human rights record.
Among the major issues is the Tibetan struggle for independence, treatment of political dissidents and restrictions on the media and the Internet.
The commentator opened the second half with Andrew Leung in Hong Kong asking him to define the relationship between China and the U.S.
He replied that the relationship is mixed. On one hand, many countries are awed by China’s economic rise. He said that China was a reluctant world power because there are so many problems inside China that must be dealt with and that China cannot afford to be globally aggressive.
Then the commentator turns to Ze Xia, the Falun Gong reporter, who wastes no time mentioning that China controls the media and says the New Tang Dynasty TV signal has been cut off and censored in China.
She calls on the West to force China to change.
Note: What Ze Xia doesn’t say is that the Chinese media is part of the central government—the media in China is not independent as in the West, and what does the Falun Gong reporter want the West to do—start a war? Click here to discover more on global censorship.
Again, the commentator cuts the Falun Gong reporter off and turns to Bruce Reynolds at the University of Virginia, who says the worst thing the West could do in China was to apply pressure. He says that will not play well with the Chinese leadership or the Chinese people, who are very proud and nationalistic.
Reynolds says he is confident that in the next thirty years, many of the problems Ze Xia, (of the Falun Gong) points out will be resolved. He calls for patience.
Andrew Leung concludes the panel with a positive outlook on how much China has changed in the last thirty years.
Discover more facts about the Falun Gong at Kaiwind.com and/or return to A Panel Discussion on China’s Economy – Part 1
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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