Beijing calls on-air comments on Hu's government as racist

The New York Times reported that the Chinese government is furious with a remark by CNN commentator Jack Cafferty and demands that CNN and him to apologize. I watched the offensive remarks in question on Youtube.com. Frankly I am not sure that Beijing is exactly in a position to demand an apology. Beijing's attempt to mutate his words into an insult of the Chinese people is very badly done. There are legitimate points in his remark like his reference to the growing US trade deficient with China, the importation of poisoned pet food and the lead coated toys. China enjoys a growing trade surplus with the United States. That is a fact. China exported pet food with deadly chemicals in them a few months ago. That is not in dispute. Finally, several foreign governments discovered that a popular bead toy manufactured in China had lead in them. That is true. Also, China is Wal-Mart’s biggest supplier. However, certain portions of his rant are not true such as companies pay Chinese factory workers a US dollar a month.

Then he proceeded to uses the words thugs and goons. Here lies the problem with Beijing's demand for an apology. It is plainly obvious to me that this comment was levied solely against the Beijing government given Wolf Blitzer's question was about China, not about his opinion of Chinese people. Obviously, Beijing cannot separate a racist comment like Kelly Tilghman's on-air remark about lynching Tiger Woods versus an attack against the government. The Chinese Foreign Ministry is unaware that in democratic countries like the United States, Canada and Western Europe, one's patriotism is not questioned merely because one opposes the current government or administration or party. There are plenty of Americans who despise and hate George W Bush and believes that he and Dick Cheney should be impeached; that does not mean that those people are unpatriotic.

This is a classic case of over-reaction. Beijing touts its righteousness by calling every insult against the regime an insult against the Chinese people. This is as outrageous as Saddam Hussein calling every insult against him as an attack on the Arab world. CNN and Cafferty should not apologize merely because the Chinese government claims it represents the feelings of the Chinese race. The Chinese Communist Party that calls itself a government certainly does not represent the Chinese nation, much less the Chinese race. As far as I know, Taipei has not weighed in on this comment. The Chinese Communist Party once said that for citizen to be patriotic, one must love his Party (also known as the Chinese Communist Party). In order for one to love his Party, one must love his leader. In other words, China is a country where dissent is forbidden.

Cafferty should obtain China's human rights report from the State Department, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and go to China. He should stand up at a Foreign Ministry press conference and identify himself before challenging the Foreign Ministry spokesperson to proof which part of his comments are slander. He should raise the detention of Shi Tao, Ching Cheong and Lu Gengsong as proof of his standard for the behavior of a Draconian regime. Beijing publicly accused the Dalai Lama of inciting violence in Tibet. Yet they offered no proof of his involvement. The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten was brilliant when various Chinese leaders called him a thousand year sinner by asking Beijing to proof which part of his reforms for Hong Kong's Legislative Council was in violation of the Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Beijing's only response was in effect Patten knows which articles of the Basic Law has been violated and should amend his reforms accordingly. In Patten's five years as governor, Beijing never once tried to point out what was wrong with his democratic reforms of the Legislative Council.

Cafferty only needs to notify the State Department of his intent to go Beijing and his itinerary so that the US Embassy in Beijing is aware of his presence in the event anything should happen to him. I would be hard pressed to believe the Chinese government would deny him entry into the country and to a Foreign Ministry press conference. If Beijing refused him entry, he could announce on CNN's The Situation Room that Beijing's only interest is waging a war over the airwaves. It would proof that Beijing's belief that the international media should be censored in the same fashion Beijing has censored the local media.