BEIJING STUDENTS TALK POLITICS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000068 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2035 TAGS: CH PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI SUBJECT: BEIJING STUDENTS TALK POLITICS REF: A) 09 BEIJING 3160 B) 09 GUANGZHOU 654 Classified By: Political Section Chief Aubrey Carlson for Reasons 1.4 (b)(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Nine Chinese university students and recent graduates shared with PolOffs December 18 their views on China's domestic challenges, climate change, human rights, corruption and minority policies. Citing China's formidable internal challenges, the students argued that Americans grossly overestimate China's economic clout. On climate change, most of the students reiterated official positions, namely that developed countries should shoulder most of the burden for cutting carbon dioxide emissions. All agreed that, regardless of China's obligations to fight climate change, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will not allow GDP growth to fall below eight percent. Human rights must also take a back seat to growth imperatives, they reasoned, despite the fact that China is still far from being a just society. Many students voiced frustration with Internet censorship and corruption. This group, composed of students who moved to China's capital for school, complained about the household registry system, which in their view gives a disproportionate amount of social benefits to natives of Beijing and Shanghai. The students generally supported preferential university admission policies for China's ethnic minorities, with the caveat that all students from economically disadvantaged provinces, even members of the Han majority, should enjoy such treatment. The Dalai Lama is an unpopular figure among Chinese youth, the students told us, but Tibetan Buddhists appear far less "threatening" than Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang. End Summary. Chinese Domestic Challenges and Climate Change -------------- - ¶2. (C) During a December 18 roundtable discussion with PolOffs, nine university students from diverse backgrounds expressed surprise over Western media assessments of China's economic might. Several students commented that foreign observers often exaggerated China's power and lacked understanding of the huge social challenges, especially poverty, which the country faced. Students said these challenges had informed China's position at the December Copenhagen Conference on climate change. Maintaining eight-percent growth was a political imperative, stressed Niu Jingfei (protect),a Tsinghua University graduate student. ¶3. (C) Participants generally agreed that China's leadership would never be willing to sacrifice economic growth for the sake of the environment. Although Ma Wei (protect),a Ph.D. candidate at Tsinghua University's Center for China Studies, believed China should do more to reduce greenhouse emissions, he was in the minority. The others stressed China's low per capita carbon emissions and petroleum consumption and recited familiar PRC talking points urging that greenhouse emissions be calculated historically with the industrialized world taking primary responsibility for climate change. Human Rights -------------- ¶4. (C) The students evinced similar views on China's human rights conditions, asserting that economic development, rather than political freedom, was China's most pressing challenge. However, none were willing to describe China as a fair and equitable society, and many complained of unjust government policies. Zhou Mohan (protect),an undergraduate business and economics student, noted that improving the livelihoods of common people had to take precedence over individual human rights at this stage in China's development. ¶5. (C) The students generally agreed that protecting human rights was a legitimate, although not paramount, government responsibility. Several participants raised "unwarranted" Western criticism of China's human record. The West should acknowledge China's success in raising living standards, which the students characterized as an important human rights achievement in itself. Only Niu offered a different view, saying, "Just because you are a developing country does not mean you can ignore human rights." Censorship, Social Policy, and Corruption -------------- ¶6. (C) Asked to list the most important human rights-related issues in China, Zheng Zhuna (protect),a Guangdong native and law student at Renmin University, said the household registration ("hukou") system was a major "human rights problem." Zheng, who like the others planned to pursue her career in Beijing after graduation, said she would not receive the same amount of maternity leave and other social BEIJING 00000068 002 OF 002 benefits because she did not have a Beijing hukou. Although hukou reform was proceeding in other cities, Zheng added, Shanghai and Beijing would restrict migrants from obtaining local household registry for the foreseeable future. ¶7. (C) The students also discussed corruption in terms of human rights. Niu said corruption, especially at the local level, was the source of much of China's ethnic tensions and other social ills. He said any efforts by the United States to push China harder on anti-corruption efforts would be widely supported by the Chinese people. ¶8. (C) Internet censorship invoked the most ire among the students. None of the participants believed Chinese government actions to control Facebook, You-Tube, Twitter, and other social networking sites were justified. Cong Huang (protect),who held a master's in statistics from Yale University and now worked at the People's Bank of China, complained about the recent tightening of Internet controls by the government. Yuan Yichan (protect),the roundtable organizer, commented that government censors thoroughly screened English-language websites but often missed sensitive content written in other foreign languages, such as German and Spanish. Despite the common presumption that tech-savvy youth easily circumvented the "Great Firewall," Zhou and several others said they lacked the technical ability to do so and relied on their professors for unfiltered information. Tibet and Xinjiang -------------- ¶9. (C) The group acknowledged that unrest in western China was often due to government incompetence and corruption, but claimed the Dalai Lama was unanimously unpopular. "He is too political," complained Yao Yao (protect),an undergraduate at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU),adding that Americans ignored the "progress" made in Tibet over the past half century, including the "elimination of slavery" there. The students seemed to hold highly stereotyped, and at times racist, views of China's ethnic minorities. Tibetans were Buddhists and thus peaceable by nature, so there was less to fear, several said. Uighur Muslims, in contrast, were inherently violent so instability in Xinjiang would never subside. Several students commented that Chinese police had "let the Uighurs off easily" and Uighurs enjoyed "special protection." Yao repeated the racist trope that, "if your bike gets stolen in China, it is most often because of Uighurs." Islam was to blame for radicalization of the Uighur population in Xinjiang, most claimed. ¶10. (C) Government preferences for ethnic minorities in university admissions and other social benefits should remain in place, the group believed. However, Ma said that ethnicity should not be the only criterion for preferential treatment. Han Chinese from western provinces were equally disadvantaged, he asserted, and should be admitted into universities with lower passing scores just like Tibetan and Uighur students. Region-based policies would promote equality of opportunity better than the current system based on nationality. HUNTSMAN