,
6 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
@wuerkaixi / Örkesh Dölet's remarks to Congress haven't gotten enough attention. It's not a reminiscence, but a clear-eyed & full-throated defense of democracy and democratic values, directed at China but also at US and west. (He starts at 45:15) 1/x c-span.org/video/?461383-…
He doesn't pull punches now any more than he did 30 years ago, when in pajamas he told Premier Li Peng "WE invited you, and YOU were late!" Today he tells Congress, "you betrayed us": US has betrayed democracy in China--by putting profit over values. 2/x 
"Engagement is appeasement," Wuer Kaixi says. We might not go that far, but when he points out (as we all know) that "interest-centric" relations are in trouble, why not try "values-centric" relations, he makes a valid point given that US China-policy is in chaos. 3/x
I hope Press will pay more attention to this speech, at a moment when millions are marching in Hong Kong for democracy, and millions of Wu'er Kaixi's own Uyghur people are locked up by CCP in concentration camps in Xinjiang. May 4th 100 yrs, June 4th 30 years anniversaries. 4/x
5/x Wu'er Kaixi is not anti-China (though he says CCP need to be studied by criminologists, not foreign policy specialists). He speaks, it sounds to me, as a Chinese intellectual with strong and sharply worded belief in political freedom, & no doubts that it works for Chinese or
6/x anyone. Of *course* these values are universal. And he tells US this at a time when our grasp of these values has gone a bit wobbly. END
