
economic v. political.doc
5页1Economic rights V. Political rights in ChinaHuman Rights LawWei XiaoweiThe rights set up in the universal declaration of human rights are the rights of individuals, and often are divided into two parts, the economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights. The political rights are often regarded the rights to protect individuals from arbitrary power of state, while the economic rights are the ones concerned with material, social, cultural welfare of the individuals. While separated, the two categories of rights are closely connected to some extent. For instance, one cannot participate in the cultural life of the country if one doesn’t have the right to freedom of expression and thoughts, or the right to form trade unions can’t be achieved without the right of peaceful assembly. There is an on-going debate among united nation members and NGOs, as the two categories are embodied in the two covenants on human rights which means they must be enlarged and developed simultaneously. Does one set of rights take priority over another? In western countries, the assumption is made that civil and political rights are more important and that’s why the West-based human rights movements and ideological trend always focus on civil and political rights. On the other hand, in many third world countries, governments start holding the opinion that civil and political rights can’t be guaranteed unless the development of economic achieves certain adequate level. They believe that economic rights must come first, and as a result there are many groups actively promoting the economic and social rights. 2However, unlike other government, Chinese government may view this point differently—only if the civil and political rights were respected would the economic growth be sustainable, otherwise the growth would be less effective and slower because of the political turbulence and upheaval that caused by disrespect of civil and political rights. The Cultural Revolution happened in late1960s may be a good lesson for Chinese government to learn from, and since then the government see the two categories of human rights equally important and interdependent. As China is experiencing the economic hyper growth in the past decades, gap between rich and poor has become larger and larger which may cause serious social problem. The distribution of wealth and to sustain economic development has become a big issue for Chinese government to deal with. According to Meltzer, there’s a paradigm which explains the relationship of political rights and economic rights in Third World, “Development requires active participation of people and fulfillment of basic economic and social needs to be effective. Deprivation of civil and political rights destroys the possibility. Therefore, failure to provide for human rights and basic needs make development impossible.”This paradigm seems to fit in China’s situation. In the1950s when the PRC just founded, the ideology of socialism is the mainstream in the country. Hence government distributed wealth in a egalitarian way in order to increase the national autonomy and self sufficient. For such development, civil and political rights are necessary to ensure the implement of policies. Moreover, certain rights also ensure the distribution of wealth is equal and proper among all the citizens. At that time, Chinese 3citizens participated comparatively active in political life. People believe in the effectiveness of communication with rulers to exercise their political rights in order to change improper policies, big character posters became a popular media to express people’s political wishes and thoughts. People’s commune were founded, everyone seemed satisfied with equal treat and united as one to boost the development of economy. As a new country, PRC successfully passed the transition and had a good time of stability and growth.However, such harmonious situation didn’t last long. The three years of natural disaster happened and deteriorated the economic situation, which is considered as the prelude of Cultural Revolution. Government started self-examination and blamed the excessive political liberties to be the major reason for economic recession. Therefore, rulers came up with package plans to limit people’s political rights, especially the freedom of expression and thought. Everyone was in a state of constant anxiety, being afraid of getting caught for unintentional but improper words or behaviors. People who got caught suffered a lot through cruel punishment, forcing them to admit false charges. Some of them couldn’t stand the torture and committed suicide. Theoretically, Meltzer’s another opinion can explain government’s policies like this.“Development requires significant economic growth and social stability. Such growth and stability often require limiting civil and political rights. Therefore, development often requires limitation of civil liberties and political participation to succee。
