Red China’s fear

Monday, January 27, 2014

Mainland China’s Communist leaders ought to regard activists like Xu Zhiyong as allies in their effort to reform the country’s economy, root out corruption and create a more representative and sustainable political system. Instead, the 40-year-old lawyer was put on trial Wednesday in Beijing. Far from regarding Mr. Xu’s New Citizens’ Movement as constructive, the regime of Xi Jinping is “terrified” of it, as Mr. Xu told a court from which journalists and Western diplomats had been barred.

What could be so scary about a group that peacefully advocates for the public disclosure of officials’ assets?

In his first year in power, Mr. Xi has tried to curry public favor by launching an anti-corruption campaign that he claims will tackle “tigers” as well as “flies.” But the raw persecution of Mr. Xu’s movement shows that the new leader mainly intends to protect what has become a massive network of official corruption. Fear that high-level graft will be exposed is helping to drive a political crackdown that has swept up more than 150 activists, intellectuals and journalists, tightened control over the internet and silenced Chinese media-which haven’t been allowed to report on the trials of Mr. Xu and his fellow activists. Pressure has been raised on Western correspondents in China, especially those who attempted to report on the vast wealth accumulated by the families of senior figures such as former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The repression is contemptible on human rights grounds, but it also ought to be worrying to all-starting with the Obama administration-who hope Mr. Xi will succeed in addressing China’s accumulating economic, environmental and social ills. That can’t happen without a freer civil society and media that can document abuses and support reforms.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 01/27/2014