China crackdown shows its weakness and fear

Washington Post:

CHINA’S COMMUNIST RULERS are ringing out December in a flurry of paranoia and repression, a fitting coda to a year of steadily decreasing tolerance for open dissent and discussion. 

On Friday, authorities sentenced Chen Wei to nine years in prison. Mr. Chen's “crime was heinous, and influence vile,” the judge declared. And what was his crime? Writing essays. 

Because he advocated democracy — and has done so since he was first imprisoned for his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 — a judge found Mr. Chen guilty of “inciting subversion.”
On Monday another dissident writer, Chen Xi, was sentenced to 10 years, also for “incitement.” His crime: 36 essays that he wrote and posted online. 

These sentences would have been considered unusually long until recently, but in the current crackdown the regime has sentenced Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo to 11 years and Liu Xianbin to 10 years. Their crimes also consisted of writing. 

China’s Communist rulers do not feel compelled to account for their actions, so the motivation for the crackdown is a subject of speculation. Most China-watchers believe the authorities have been spooked by the popular uprisings in the Middle East. They may also be more nervous than usual as they prepare for an equally opaque leadership change next year. A top security official reportedly said that crackdowns on “hostile forces”(government code for peaceful advocates of democracy) and “illegal religious organizations” (code for Christians, Falun Gong followers and others who choose to worship without government approval) will be a priority in the coming year.

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Governments suppress speech they disagree with out of fear that others might be persuaded by it.  There is already great unrest in china as local communities are in open rebellion over the high handed thefts by the Communist government.  The government has also grossly overbuilt and is facing an implosion of property values.