China is not the country to be lecturing anyone else on human rights abuses, however, that doesn’t change the fact that many of their criticisms have merit. From Doug Bandow at antiwar.com:
The People’s Republic of China is rapidly regressing on human rights, returning to the sort of political totalitarianism of the mad “Red Emperor” Mao Zedong. Personal autonomy remains largely unfettered, but Xi Jinping has created an expansive and brutal security state which punishes the slightest criticism of or dissent from his and the Chinese Communist Party’s authority.
There is no excuse for the regime treating the PRC’s 1.4 billion people as automatons. Yet Beijing is ostentatiously extending the same controls to Hong Kong, destroying what once was an oasis of liberty within the Chinese system. The same fate certainly awaits Taiwan if it is swallowed by the colossus next door.
The good news is that nothing is forever in China. After Mao’s death in 1976 came political relaxation, economic liberalization, and personal liberation. Before XI took power in 2012 the authoritarianism, though real, was loose. A similar reversal could occur when XI mercifully leaves the scene. America should play the long game and avoid inflaming pre-existing nationalist currents and causing patriotic Chinese to defend the XI dictatorship. The Trump administration’s maladroit attacks on the CCP – most recently restricting visas to tens of millions of party members – is more likely to hurt than help the cause of liberty in the PRC.
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 