Analysis | China's dissidents feel the 'chilling effect' as party's muzzling tactics prove effective
Activists, lawyers, journalists, bloggers, professors – China’s new leaders have taken aim at civil society in what analysts call an effort to muffle dissent that is proving powerfully effective.
Activists, lawyers, journalists, bloggers, professors – China’s new leaders have taken aim at civil society in what analysts call an effort to muffle dissent that is proving powerfully effective.
The ruling Communist Party has long maintained tight control, nipping in the bud any public outcries or organised efforts that might snowball into “social unrest”.
But experts see a renewed drive under Xi Jinping, who took over as party chief in late 2012 and as state president in early last year, and has since consolidated power and advanced an ambitious agenda including restructuring the economy.
In the latest example, seven activists were charged in Henan province last week with the vague offence of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after they held a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, rights groups said.
Part of that is of course to remove, to eliminate those very dangerous ‘wrong’ messages,” he said. “And that’s what you are seeing today
“It’s a general intolerance for dissent, a general intolerance for civil society’s development. The whole approach is to concentrate power to promote economic reforms, to emphasise stability,” said Joseph Cheng, a China politics expert at City University of Hong Kong.