Critics Slam Beijing’s White Papers Released Ahead of Regime’s 70th Anniversary as Propaganda

A man uses his mobile phone in front of a screen that shows a message about the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in Beijing on Sept. 26, 2019. Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

China recently published two white papers touting its achievements ahead of its celebrations of the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of the country on Oct. 1. However, experts have since called out Beijing for publishing what they believe is propaganda.

The first of the two, called “Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China,” was published on Sept. 22. Five days later, a second paper on foreign policy, titled “China and the World in the New Era,” was issued.

In the first document, the Chinese regime claimed that it made accomplishments in establishing “a relatively complete legal system to protect human rights” and that Chinese people now “enjoy real democracy.”

In the second report, Beijing claimed that the “leadership” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the reason for “China’s success” over the past 70 years. The paper stated that without the CCP, “China would have tended toward division and disintegration and caused widespread chaos beyond its own borders.”

The Chinese regime has observed Oct. 1 as “National Day” since 1949, when the CCP defeated the republican government of China. The ruling Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan.

Nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) issued a statement on Sept. 26, criticizing China’s so-called “human rights” policy paper.

“This document is a smokescreen intended to mask the horrendous record of the Chinese power in regards to human rights and in particular freedom of the press,” said Cédric Alviani, head of the RSF East Asia office.

Alviani added that the international community shouldn’t be fooled by the white paper, which is a “text that purposely confuses development with human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which China is a signatory but violates daily.”

The statement pointed out that the document ignores “the dire situation of press freedom.” It added that China “is the biggest prison in the world for journalists, with at least 115 detainees.”

RSF ranked China 177th out of 180 countries and regions in its Press Freedom Index this year. It added that the 850 million internet users in China can’t inform themselves freely because of the Chinese regime’s online censorship and technological surveillance.

Meanwhile, China political commentator Zhou Xiaohui, in an opinion article published in the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times, said that Beijing is claiming that China would fall apart without the CCP in order to advance its legitimacy.

Zhou pointed out that many countries have continued to thrive after the removal of dictatorial governments, including Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

He pointed out that hundreds of millions of Chinese have died of persecution under different political movements launched by the CCP, such as the Anti-Rightist Campaign, which targeted intellectuals; the Great Leap Forward, which led to a famine that killed millions; and the Cultural Revolution, with those labeled as “counter-revolutionary” attacked and punished.

Zhou questioned how the Chinese regime could consider itself successful when poisonous products, including tainted milk powder and vaccines, and severe air and water pollution, continue to plague China.

Beijing is making a veiled threat to Chinese citizens with its disintegration claim, targeting Chinese who fear that society would become chaotic without CCP rule, and Western politicians who fear the potential consequences of unrest in China, Zhou said.