Taking the Mickey
‘Taking the Mickey’ is a well-known expression in our modern free societies. Besides a long tradition of satire, it has come to reflect both a notion of egalitarianism and a healthy scepticism about authority. In western, liberal democracies, political leaders are parodied and caricatured every day in the media. Being thin-skinned is viewed as a sign of weakness, even in the face of unfair criticism. However in totalitarian China, even innocent comments deemed critical, especially towards President Xi Jinping, are punished by the state.
Three recent incidents demonstrate the acute sensitivity to any perceived slight to China’s new ‘Great Leader’ especially in the lead-up to this year’s Party Congress at which Mr Xi is expected to be given a third term as General Secretary of the Communist Party. The first involved the publication of a seemingly innocent poem on the weibo platform of Xuan Kejiong, a reporter for the state-owned Shanghai Media Group. Entitled ‘To the Cicada’, the poem referred to the fact that the insects with ‘fat heads and big ears’ emerged from the nether world every five years, adding ‘and all you can do is use your ass to sing a song of praise in the summer.’ The piece drew the immediate ire of the CCP censors, who had it taken down 30 minutes after the publication - and its viral spread - on the site used by 1.6 million followers. The mention of ‘fat heads and big ears’ was interpreted as to be reference to Xi, and the five years to the periodic Party Congress. The weibo account was subsequently suspended as the media group profusely apologised for the apparent slight.
If the agitation about the habits of Cicadas wasn’t enough, the naming of a newly born Panda produced a frenzied response from the censors. The panda ‘Cui Cui’ gave birth to a cub in Sichuan, an event proudly announced on the state broadcaster CGTV. By breaking the Chinese script into calligraphic elements, some mischievous netizens produced the words ‘Qucui’ meaning ‘pray for Xi’s death’ and even ‘Xi dies twice’! The comments were soon removed and the poor Panda’s name banished from the media.
While these incidents seem amusing outside China, they mask a more sinister reality there. Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced it would crack down on ‘online rumours and fake information about major meetings, important events and policies.’ The three-month campaign coincides with the forthcoming National Party Congress, expected in October. Offenders would be punished ‘strictly, quickly and severely’ warned the Administration. Significantly, the campaign would be ‘guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important thoughts on a strong cyberspace.’ When an objective history of the CCP is written, much space will be devoted to ‘Xi Jinping thought’ on almost everything.
Chinese journalists are already subject to strict curbs and mandatory ideological education. Most western media representatives have departed the country, many to Taiwan. Now ordinary citizens who dare question the regime will be targeted. The campaign will ‘increase the punishment of rumour-mongering behaviour, investigate and expose typical cases to form a strong deterrent, maximise the squeezing of space for online rumours and false information space.’
The full extent of the CCP’s paranoia was revealed in the recent jailing of five Hong Kong speech pathologists for publishing ‘seditious’ children’s books. The judge, one of a small group selected by the Beijing appointed Chief Executive to hear national security cases, found the five guilty and sentenced them to 19-months imprisonment.
The books related stories of a village of sheep resisting invading wolves. In one story, the wolves try to overrun the village and eat the sheep. In another, 12 sheep are forced to flee their village, an allusion according to the government prosecutors to 12 activists attempting to flee to Taiwan. Judge WK Kwok described the books as ‘a brainwashing exercise with a view of guiding the very young children to accept their views and values, i.e (Beijing) has no sovereignty over (Hong Kong).’ ‘By identifying (the People’s Republic of China) government as the wolves . . . the children will be led into the belief that (the PRC government) is coming to Hong Kong with the wicked intention of taking away their home and ruining their happy life with no right to do so at all.’ The speech pathologists defence that they were exercising their freedom of expression was rejected in favour of national security and public order. How many other children’s stories are likely to be seditious?
The crackdown has been extended to trade unions generally which now have to declare that they will not ‘endanger national security’ to be registered in Hong Kong. More than 60 unions have disbanded including the Confederation of Trade Unions which had been operating for three decades. Amongst the other unions to deregister was the speech pathologists.
Many Hong Kongers continue to defy the CCP despite the new national security laws and the jailings. Thousands of people, mostly young, joined queues hundreds of metres long for hours in sweltering temperatures to record their condolences at the death of Queen Elizabeth at the British Consulate. It was not only a mark of respect for the late monarch who had visited the island in 1975 and 1986 before most of them were born; many of them were expressing quietly their views about the denial of their basic freedoms by Xi’s regime.
It was revealing then that the CCP announced it would invite foreign media to the Party Congress. Apart from indicating that Xi Jinping is now confident of securing a third term as General Secretary of the party, it suggests that the CCP realises that its global image has been battered in recent years. Not that we can expect anything other than a scripted, tightly controlled program for the media, akin to the restrictions around the Olympic Games. I can’t image Mr Xi allowing himself a western-style press conference. ‘Why was baby panda Cui banished?’ is not likely to be amusing to the colourless Xi who seems particularly thin-skinned - let alone critical questions about his regime’s abuse of human rights and the launching of a new cold war.
This column was originally published in the Spectator Australia.
