Criticize China? Better Watch Your Back

It's a good thing CNN's Jack Cafferty isn't in China. In all likelihood he would be placed under arrest and hauled into prison for a lengthy sentence.

Cafferty's crime? He dared refer to the the Chinese government as 'goons' and 'thugs' in response to the regime's treatment of the people of Tibet.

The remarks were spoken from the safety of CNN's headquarters during the network's daily broadcast of 'The Situation Room. Cafferty quipped, 'I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years.'

This prompted the Chinese Foreign Ministry to summon CNN's Beijing bureau chief in order to demand an apology.

As usual, the regime's spin on the incident is that Cafferty was referring to 'the Chinese people as a whole' and not merely to the regime. According to the ruling Communist Party officials such words are tantamount to 'verbal terrorism' against the Chinese people and indicates an anti-Chinese bias at CNN.

Officials at CNN, however, refuse an apology. Cafferty himself stated that he was in no way referring to the Chinese people but only to the Chinese government, and that he apologized if anyone thought otherwise.

The entire display, however, is classic Chinese Communist reaction to criticism. Not only does the regime fail to recognize the value of free speech but it is particularly harsh toward speech, either written or spoken, that in any way portrays the government in a negative light.

In other words, if you dare criticize the government, it's off to jail with you.

Most of the Chinese people understand this, including Chinese-Americans. Some, however, view the American ideal of freedom of speech as a totally foreign concept that is to be devalued. It is extremely important for such person to understand that in this country freedom of speech was first envisioned to protect in particular any speech that is critical of government.

This is part of our understanding of basic, inherent human rights and liberties.

Thus, until the Chinese government understands that human liberty is the pinnacle of human progress, most of us in the States will always view the regime as 'the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the past 50 years.'

I will even go further than Mr. Cafferty. China's government is tyrannical. It suppresses the liberties of the Chinese people and holds them in the heavy grip of oppression.

Therefore, it is a rogue regime that is worthy of nothing but the free world's disdain and condemnation.