Chinese President Hu Jintao is clamping down on civil liberties to
preserve the Communist Party’s grip on power, according to the Washington Post.
Taking his lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the
Tiananmen protests, Hu is trying to eliminate dissent (e.g. arrest of a
Catholic priest) and focus popular discontent outward (e.g. protests
against Japan). Key passage:
The number of people who traveled to Beijing to plead for help in
resolving grievances against local officials more than doubled last
year, according to another party scholar, who was asked to study the
situation. The sudden spike has alarmed the leadership because it
occurred despite strong economic growth and as the number of protests
across the country was also rising, he said.
