Iran protests make headlines in China, too
Posted: Friday, June 19, 2009 12:21 PM
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Beijing, China
By NBC News' Bo Gu
BEIJING – Wow. People in Iran have the right to elect their own president? Candidates are allowed to participate in TV debates and give speeches to their supporters, just like in the United States? And they are allowed to publicly protest?
This comes as news to many in China who have long viewed Iran as an extremely conservative Muslim country where women have to cover their hair and bodies with scarves and robes. It’s mostly known here for leaders who openly challenge the United States and play cat-and-mouse over their stubborn nuclear power policies.
But people in Iran, usually seen as so mysterious and different from China, do enjoy many rights not endowed to Chinese citizens – such as voting and going out on the streets to express their discontent.
So it comes as a surprise to see that China’s mainstream media coverage of the post-election crisis in Iran has been fairly thorough. The protests and resulting bloodshed were reported all week in newspapers and on Web sites, with vivid videos and pictures.
There were even articles by academics who had expressed fears that images of protesters would be purposely blocked by Chinese authorities, so as not to trigger memories of the violent crackdown on the student movement in Beijing 20 years ago this month. Apparently their predictions were wrong.
The coverage included a healthy dose of analysis by Middle East experts, discussing the election results and the growing protests. But they did not say much about the events’ influence on China, despite the fact China is Iran’s biggest oil trading partner, as well as Iran’s biggest business partner in Asia.
Lively debate
Chinese Internet users have also engaged in lively debates in virtual chatrooms. After some discussion of actual events, the conversation always seems to switch to questions like: "What is America doing in Iran?" (It seems in China’s most active online chatrooms, Uncle Sam is involved in everything.)
"People in Iran should overthrow their Islamic maniac and war provoker Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," said one commenter on the most popular Internet chatroom, Tian Ya.
That comment received an angry reply: "Oh really? Are you calling on Iranians to overthrow someone elected by themselves? War provoker? Tell me, has Iran in the past few decades provoked more wars than the democratic U.S.A?"
That was met by: "It doesn’t matter who is the next Iranian president, hardliners or reformers! As long as they keep confronting the U.S., we should support them!"
Another comment stirred some controversy: "Isn’t it the same with America? They brainwash their people and shift people’s attention with the war in Iraq."
That comment received a sarcastic reply referring to China’s own restrictive policies: "Oh yes America brainwashes their people too? How? Do they use the Green Dam [software] to filter content online? Or does their statistics bureau give you fake data? Or do they block the Internet?"
But with the Iranian government now blocking social networking websites like Twitter and YouTube, any jealousy Chinese citizens may have fostered for their right to vote and protest likely switched to deep sympathy. As Chinese citizens, we are all too familiar with censorship.
Click here for complete coverage of the Iranian election crisis
