Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I was rather disappointed by the opinion piece by Sichao Xu entitled "America needs to update its view of China" [YH 4/13/01]. The author glosses over many examples of totalitarianism still present in the Chinese regime and mischaracterizes an important detail of the recent U.S. spy plane incident.

Even though China is now wealthier than it was even 10 years ago, it has not greatly changed in terms of its disrespect for human rights. Just in 1998, the Chinese government arrested and convicted the leaders of the China Democratic Party for trying to register as an opposition to the Communist Party that has ruled China for more than 50 years. Also, China continues to persecute members of the spiritual movement Falun Gong and to curtail Tibetans' right to exist as a culture. Finally, China's One Child policy continues to deny women the right to bear children as they see fit, and its enforcement has led to forced abortions and the jailing of hundreds of women who chose not to abide by the government's totalitarian policy.

If the Communist Party adapts to the desires of the people as Xu claims it does, why is China denying its citizens the right to organize a new party in opposition? If most of the hard-liners of 1989 who squashed the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square are gone, why is China still keeping those activists locked in jail?

The fact that the author of the article visited China and saw many thriving businesses does not mean that China has become a humane and just state. China's government seems legitimate only because of the economic boom, which itself was caused by America's compromising of its core belief in freedom in favor of economic benefit. Not only does the author mischaracterize the inhumanity of China's Communist regime, but he also misunderstands the circumstances surrounding the spy plane incident. This plane flew 50 miles off the Chinese coast, and was therefore over international waters (international waters reach up to 12 miles away from the coastline). The American plane was flying over international waters and not Chinese territory as China contends. If we were to take the South China Sea as Chinese territory, than the U.S. should rule much of the Caribbean, Spain would control the Atlantic Ocean, and Russia would have rights to the Sea of Japan. Clearly, these territorial claims would be called ridiculous by Xu.

I hope that the Herald's readers understand that the Chinese regime is not only a threat to the security interests of the United States, but also a threat to its own people and Taiwan. We should never forget Xu Wenli, who still sits in a Chinese prison for merely trying to register an opposition party, and we should never forget the 50 million who perished at the hands of communism in China since Mao's rise to power. The only sensible policy towards China is that of treating it as a hostile dictatorship. 

Yevgeny Vilensky, TC '03,

President of the Committee for Freedom

A former Yale musician who's still rocking

Dear Editor:

Jim Laakso's recent cover story on Yale rock musicians was misleading—in my case, anyway [YH 4/13/01, "Yale bands: rocking in the real world?"]. My four-album deal with Sony Music Publishing means that I don't have a day-job, and I devote the bulk of my time to my music (the rest is devoted to love-making, show-going, and drinking). I'm sure that there are many bitter Yalie rock failures, but I'm not one of them. 

Jason Morphew, TC '95

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