Digging their own grave

Kristoff:

So where is China going? I think the Internet is hastening China along the same path that South Korea, Chile and especially Taiwan pioneered. In each place, a booming economy nurtured a middle class, rising education, increased international contact and a growing squeamishness about torturing dissidents.

President Hu has fulminated in private speeches that foreign "hostile forces" are trying to change China. Yup, count me in - anybody who loves China as I do would be hostile to an empty Mao suit like Mr. Hu. But it's the Chinese leadership itself that is digging the Communist Party's grave, by giving the Chinese people broadband.

The more wealth a society acquires, the more likely it is that it will become a democracy. The wealthiest societies in the world are all democratic.

People with wealth demand more than food; they demand jobs, education, decent living standards and a clean environment. They demand freedom of information.

None of this bodes well for the Chinese Communist Party.
- posted by total @ 5/25/2005 04:46:00 AM .