Hu's Invited to the Party?

Now, turning to China...

The honorable Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (which is, by the way, the only party in Peking*) has said that he opposes turning China into a multiparty democracy. Amid intraparty disagreements and charges of corruption, Hu said, "History indicates that indiscriminately copying Western political systems is a blind alley for China."

A blind alley for the Chinese Communist party, maybe, but not a blind alley for China. Market reforms begun under Deng Xiopeng and continuing to today have transformed the Chinese economy into an engine of world economic growth. They also unleashed a great desire for freedom in the hearts of the Chinese people. And so it goes...as economic freedom grows, so too does the demand for political freedom.

The currents of change in China are irresistable, and though they may have been restrained by the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, the tide can't be held back. The Chinese on Hong Kong and Taiwan have tasted freedom in both its forms, economic and political. The fact that the leader of the Chinese Communist Party now finds himself in the position of having to spend time denouncing "Western" concepts of political freedom is a hopeful indicator that the incredible perseverence of the Chinese people will soon pay off.

*Beijing, for the politically correct.