20 years on

Steve Chapman looks at the progress in China since the suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests 20 years ago:

It was an intoxicating moment that didn't last. By the morning of June 4, the government had reversed course, sending the army to crush the long-running student demonstration in the capital's Tiananmen Square, leaving hundreds dead, and the Beijing Spring was over.

Since that day, China has undergone such a broad transformation that it is almost unrecognizable. The economy has opened up to markets, private property, and foreign trade. Living standards have soared. The government that once preached world revolution now provides credit to sustain American consumption. Chinese students go abroad to attend universities in bastions of capitalism.

China has indeed come a long, long way from 1989, and it's difficult to put it into perspective: few other countries could have changed that much without a bloody and destructive revolution or six. I may still have my issues about China's official statistics, but I do acknowledge and applaud the progress toward greater freedom for ordinary Chinese people:

By now, [the Communist Party] has had to abandon its own ideology and invoke Western principles. In his 2007 speech to the national party congress, President Hu Jintao used the term "democracy" some 60 times, while calling for the government to be more open, accountable and limited.

This declaration should not be taken on faith, but it's not just lip service. Democratic elections have become common at the village level. The government clearly strives to take public sentiment into account in making policy. When an earthquake devastated Sichuan province a year ago, foreign reporters were allowed unprecedented freedom to cover the aftermath. A system of law is emerging.

Democracy is better than dictatorship, but it's not a panacea. The rule of law, protection of the person and of property, and ease of redress are all more significant to the individual, and they are still not up to western standards. It does, however, make it much harder for governments to go back to older, more tyrannical practices. This is all to the good.